Potential of Mobile-Based Apps Online Platforms in Fast-Tracking Access of Agriculture Information

Alpha Edward; Ernest R Mbega; Shubi F Kaijage

doi:10.17485/IJST/v14i39.729

Article

Potential of Mobile-Based Apps Online Platforms in Fast-Tracking Access of Agriculture Information

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Indian Journal of Science and Technology

DOI: 10.17485/IJST/v14i39.729

Year: 2021, Volume: 14, Issue: 39, Pages: 2953-2960

Original Article

Potential of Mobile-Based Apps Online Platforms in Fast-Tracking Access of Agriculture Information

Alpha Edward^*, Ernest R Mbega¹, Shubi F Kaijage²

¹School of Life Sciences and BIO-Engineering, The Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology, Arusha, Tanzania
²School of Computational and Communication Science and Engineering, The Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology, Arusha, Tanzania

*Corresponding Author
Email: [email protected]

Received Date:29 April 2021, Accepted Date:03 November 2021, Published Date:18 November 2021

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Objectives: This paper report the potential of online mobile phone-based platforms in fast-tracking access of agricultural information to farmers, with a case study of Arusha, Tanzania. Method: We used the questionnaire-based and focus group discussion methods and a total of 156 respondents were randomly selected for data collection. Findings: The results showed that 77.6% of respondents possess smartphones and 32.7% of them use internetbased platforms to search for agriculture information which usually is not applicable or specific in their local Arusha context. Such finding raised a need for developing internet-based platform for accessing agricultural information by farmers for use in their local context. Thus, the same respondents were assessed for their readiness to use a mobile-based agricultural app if developed. The results indicated that 80% of the respondents were willing and would use the app. Novelty: The paper demonstrated how mobile phonebased apps can be used to quicken accessibility of agricultural information in a local-based, context-specific location.

Keywords: Mobile Apps; Agriculture Information; Online Platform; Smartphones; Information Access

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Copyright

© 2021 Edward et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Published By Indian Society for Education and Environment (iSee)