Assessing the Impacts of Mobile Technology in Crop Farming. A Comparative Literature Review of the Effectiveness of Mobile Applications and Related Systems in Enhancing Access to better Market for Smallholder Farmers.

Abstract

Most mobile apps and web-based platforms supporting agriculture were introduced, revolutionized, or updated decades ago. The introduction of these platforms has appeared like a revolution, stirring smallholder farming in Kenya and around the world. However, studies examined in this review depict that their benefits to smallholder farmers are an illusion at best. Access to market remains the same both locally and internationally for most farmers, production, and access to farm inputs record little significant improvement, and the monopoly of the middleman remains untamed. Whether there are real benefits to the farmer using the app for their activities, relative to those relying on traditional channels such as word of mouth from professionals, experience about weather trends and farm inputs, internet kiosks, or radio to access information supporting their farming is the focus of this proposed study. The present review depicts that rather than benefits from the apps being tangible, farmers record a feeling that these apps are beneficial to their bottom lines such as improved access to information about the market, increased sales due to markets availability, and ease of access to buyers, but there is a general lack of data supporting these feelings. Relative to those not utilizing the apps, there seems to be no significant difference in these parameters, as determined by this review. While lack of skills and information gaps about existing technology might hamper adoption, hence, seemingly insignificant yields even at the peak of technology, this proposed study can only be exhaustive with real data collected from smallholder farmers of interest to our study.

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