Analysing the effects of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on the integration of East African farmers in a value chain context

Abstract

Insufficient access to markets, limited financial transactions, and a lack of information and knowledge often restrict opportunities for small-scale farmers to link up with commercial value chains in Sub-Saharan Africa. Advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs), especially mobile phones and the internet, have expanded the possibility to communicate across geographical distances and to integrate into commercial value chains. By using a novel combination of conceptual considerations on ICTs, value chains, and relational proximity, this paper assesses: 1. How the use of ICTs affects the integration of small-scale farmers into the value chains (by analysing the information and knowledge flow, the financial and market transactions) and 2. to what extent the use of ICTs is on the other side influenced by the value chain context (i.e. the structure and coordination of the chain and the relational proximity between farmer and buyer). Our findings showed that even simple ICTs (phones) can lead to improvements for farmers to integrate into the chain as they facilitate simple information and complex knowledge flow, financial transactions, and market access, even though a greater structural transformation was absent. However, our results showed that the extent of the effects depends on the context in the value chains, in particular their structure, coordination, and the relational proximity between the actors. In this way, this paper contributes to the conceptual discussions on information and communication for development (ICT4D) and the dynamics in value chains.

Factors affecting digital technology adoption by small-scale farmers in agriculture value chains (AVCs) in South Africa

“…Agriculture is increasingly becoming knowledge-intensive and providing such knowledge can be challenging as information must be tailored to local conditions (NAHF, 2017). In agriculture, digital tools can improve access to commercial markets by positively influencing the ability to access information and overcoming spatial barriers by connecting farmers and buyers (Krone & Dannenberg, 2018).…”

Trust in agri-food value chains: a systematic review

“…Misaki et al (2018) add to this that also more general trust attitudes towards government impact the uptake and usage of digital tools by farmers. In addition, Krone and Dannenberg (2018) conclude that the usage of Mpesa (Kenyan money transfer system using mobile phones) depends not only on interpersonal trust but also on institutional trust in the banking system. A final remark is, amongst others, made by Kassem et al (2020) in their conclusions showing that experiences in the collaboration contexts in which mobile and e-extension services are used impact interpersonal trust dynamics and the usage and perceived trustworthiness of the tool and its data.…”

Digital divide, craft firms’ websites and urban-rural disparities—empirical evidence from a web-scraping approach

“…Some qualitative studies show positive effects of digital infrastructure for rural areas (Townsend et al 2017). To give an example, in many rural areas in developing countries, digital infrastructure allows time to integrate such regions into global value chains and enables a low-cost and reliable exchange with extra-regional and international customers (Krone and Dannenberg 2018). However, only some quantitative studies find that these effects are also positive in a relative sense, i.e.…”