| dc.description.abstract | Tomato is a widely consumed vegetable in Kenya and globally. It is an essential
source of nutrients, income and employment. Pest infestation is one of the major
challenges in tomato farming that leads to low- and poor-quality production especially
through physical destruction of the products and high production cost due to their
control measures. Besides, tomato farmers experience difficulties in accessing timely
pest information to enable effective pest management decisions. Use of Information
and Communication Technology (ICT) is a novel pathway of helping farmers to
access pest information services, particularly in an environment with declining public
extension services. However, there is scanty literature on awareness and adoption
levels of ICT-based pest information services by farmers, together with the factors
that limit adoption of these services by farmers. Available studies give mixed results
on factors influencing adoption of ICT-based information services. The main
objective of this study was to analyze tomato farmers‟ awareness and adoption of
ICT-based pest information services in tomato production in the Central Highlands of
Kenya. Specifically, the study: (i) characterized the current information services for
tomato pests and their management, (ii) assessed the farmer awareness and adoption
of ICT-based pest information services and (iii) assessed the determinants of and
factors limiting the adoption of ICT-based pest information services. The study was
conducted in Nyeri and Meru Counties. Data was collected between October and
November, 2021, through field surveys using structured questionnaires, which were
administered by trained enumerators to a sample of 170 farmers using KoBo Toolkit.
The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, inferential statistics and Logistic
Regression. The results indicate that the current sources of agricultural pest
information were ICT-based and non-ICT-based. The main non-ICT based sources
were; other farmers (82.9%), agro dealers (81%), public extension officers (47%) and
agro chemicals‟ sales agents (30%). The ICT-based sources were radio programs
(94%), television programs (90%) and mobile- and internet-based information
services (MIBIS) (100%). Farmers reported high awareness of ICT-based information
services, with 100% awareness of radio programs, 93% TV programs and 83%
MIBIS. However, the adoption rate was low as only 48% of the farmers adopted at
least one ICT-based information service. The most adopted service was radio
programs (34% adoption rate) followed by television programs (30%) and MIBIS
(28%). The study found that the factors that positively influenced adoption of ICTbased pest information services were: gender (male), membership in social groups,
off-farm employment, levels of trust on ICT-based information sources, transport
costs to nearby market centers and area under tomato production. The factors that had
a negative influence on adoption were; the level of education, size of land owned, and
the production system, with greenhouse system having lower adoption level than open
field system. Factors limiting ICT-based pest information services adoption include:
poor timing of the information broadcast by service providers; lack of ownership of
ICT tools and high cost of using the services. The results from this study provide
unique evidence to inform policymakers on the need to integrate ICT-based tools into
strategies and interventions for disseminating pest information services to farmers.
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The findings suggest that the radio and television service providers should air
information at the most convenient times for farmers, who prefer evening broadcasts.
There is also a need to encourage farmers to form and participate in social groups and
cooperatives that support adoption of ICT-based pest information services. Further
studies can be done to evaluate the impact of ICT-based pest information services on
pest management, productivity and profitability of tomato production. | en_US |
