International Journal of Computer Applications |
Foundation of Computer Science (FCS), NY, USA |
Volume 112 - Number 12 |
Year of Publication: 2015 |
Authors: M.k.alam, I.p.vosanka, M.i.umar, Dauda.i.i, U.f.ngasoh |
10.5120/19721-0885 |
M.k.alam, I.p.vosanka, M.i.umar, Dauda.i.i, U.f.ngasoh . Assessment of the Utilization of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in Agricultural Business in Jalingo Local Government Area of Taraba State, Nigeria. International Journal of Computer Applications. 112, 12 ( February 2015), 33-36. DOI=10.5120/19721-0885
The study assessed the utilization of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in Agricultural Business in Jalingo Local Government Area of Taraba State, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to describe the socio-economic characteristic of the respondent asses the level of the respondent utilization of ICT in agricultural business and identify the major constraint to the use of ICT by farm managers in the study area. Data were collected from 105 respondents through structured questionnaire using purposive and simple random sampling techniques and were analyzed using frequency, percentage and mean rating scale. The result on the socio-economic characteristic of the respondents shows that majority (90. 48) were below 51 years of age, 74. 29% were males, 59. 05% married and 64. 76% had large family size of more than 6 persons. Also most (74. 29%) of the respondent had formal education ranging from primary to tertiary level and 54. 05% had more than 51 years of business experience. The result on the level of utilization of ICT facilities by farm managers revealed that they moderately used computer based ICT (X ?=1. 29) but highly utilized GSM (X ?=1. 95) and ATM (X ?=1. 67). The major constraints to the use of ICT by farm managers include inadequate fund (99. 05%), erratic and unstable power supply (97. 14%), high cost of ICT facilities (84. 76%), poor maintenance of ICT facilities (74. 29%) and unstable network services (80. 00%). Recommendations were made that, farm managers should be supported by government, NGOs and financial institutions with grant or credit with minimum interest charged so as to boost their farm business activities. Also, farm managers should enroll for computer training so as to improve their computer skills.