| Understanding agricultural innovation is essential for farmers to deal with complex agricultural challenges.Information dissemination from research to farmers is an indispensable phenomenon that guides farmers’ technological awareness.Therefore,obtaining timely and accurate information is the need for farmers to understand the latest technological information on agricultural development.There are different sources of information,including traditional and modern media,which farmers used to get updated information to nurture themselves.Among the traditional sources,fellow farmers,extension field workers,radio,and television are more prominent in the eyes of farmers.However,the information received through these sources is considered partially valid and is limited by cost,dissemination,effectiveness,and relevance.The emergence of information and communication technologies(ICTs)has brought new horizons to the information dissemination process,potentially sharing information immediately among large communities.This highly regarded technology reduces costs and ultimately improves accessibility and efficiency.Over time,users of these technologies are in the uprising.Compared with traditional sources,integrating ICTs into promotional services can improve service standards and information acquisition.Therefore,it is considered essential to investigate the adoption of ICT and its impact on agricultural development.To understand the ICTs usage by farmers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa(KP)province,first,data were collected from four districts,namely,Dera Ismail Khan(DIK),Charsadda,Mansehra,and Swat,depending on the share of agriculture production in these areas.Furthermore,according to the provincial map,we have selected four districts from the four different zones.The selected districts are Swat,located in the North,Charsadda in the West,Mansehra in the East,and DIK in the south.In the second step,one tehsil was selected from each district to fill out questionnaires,and in the third step,one Union Council(UC)was targeted from each tehsil.In the fourth step,four villages were focused randomly on each selected UC,and finally,the essential data were collected from wheat growers in the study villages.Qualitative data were analyzed using the content analysis technique,while collected quantitative data were analyzed using STATA.Existing research outcomes showed that decision-making,education,farm size,cooperative membership,gender,extension services,access to credit,access to weather forecast information,risk perception,market distance,digital camera,and other factors significantly affect productivity and subsidy awareness agendas.However,the outcomes signify that ICTs adoption has a significant optimistic impact on agricultural production.The conclusion of the research is the policy impact,emphasizing the essential to accelerate the ICTs adoption by farmers as a policy to enhance Pakistan’s agriculture or production and food security.The larger the scope of ICTs usage would be the more substantial and optimistic the impact on agricultural income.After applying the different methods,it was found that ICTs usage significantly improved the efficiency of selecting sales channels.Its impact on agricultural profits is also leading(about 41%),with support and non-agricultural profits exceeding 31%.Finally,the results showed a significant impact on the choice of favorable auction and marketing channels.The analysis showed growers’ age,farm size,farm location,and knowledge about Internet technology(IT)are strongly correlated with ICTs adoption in agriculture development.Results showed on average,65% of growers had mobile devices supporting these Internet technologies,and 55% used mobile phone internet in agricultural environments.Since the extant research on mobile phone internet adoption for agriculture production in Pakistan is sparse,this study helps advance mobile phone internet adoptionbased studies.These outcomes may draw the attention of decision-makers dealing with IT infrastructure and agricultural equipment who can support growers adopting mobile phone internet.The current study results also showed that contrasted with non-membership and nonadopters,growers who joined cooperatives support and technology adoption could boost agricultural income by 2.78% and 2.35%,respectively.Stimulatingly,the influence of lessrevenue farmers on agricultural revenue was more substantial than that of high-income farmers.The agricultural income of growers who attached cooperatives and adopted improved agricultural technology was enhanced by 5.45 and 4.51%,respectively.These results,among others,emphasize the optimistic role of growing cooperatives support and technology adoption in boosting wheat production and income.Finally,the results showed a significant impact on agricultural development,choice of a favorable auction,and marketing channels.It is recommended that the government and nongovernmental organizations should improve the rural and agricultural development information policy.In addition,the authorities should expand ICTs usage training services for farmers(including wheat growers),which may help improve growers’ ability to increase agricultural productivity and household income.Since the extant research on ICTs adoption for agriculture production in Pakistan is sparse,this study helps advance ICTs adoption-based studies.These outcomes may draw the attention of decision-makers dealing with ICTs infrastructure and agricultural equipment who can support growers adopting ICTs. |
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