Perceived Effectiveness of the Mobile Applications in Agriculture in Terms of Availability, Acceptance, Usage and Satisfaction

Abstract

The rapid advancement of mobile technology has revolutionized various sectors, including agriculture. Mobile applications have emerged as promising tools to enhance agricultural practices by providing farmers with convenient access to vital information and services. This study aims to investigate the perceived effectiveness of mobile applications in agriculture, focusing on their availability, acceptance, usage, and satisfaction. An Ex-post facto research design was used for the present study. The study was conducted in two districts namely Chikkaballapur and Shivamogga districts of Karnataka state which were purposively selected. Chintamani taluq of Chikkaballapur district and Bhadravathi taluq of Shivamogga district are selected randomly. Two villages (Kaivara and Kurutahalli) from chintamani taluq, Hiriyurua and Nanjapura villages from Bhadravathi taluq were selected based on the simple random sampling method. From each village 30 farmers were selected randomly thus making it a total of 120 farmers from two districts. The four apps Farmrise, AgriApp, Krishi Mithra and Krishi Samyojaka were purposively selected based on its extensive use in the study area. The study showed that 67.50 per cent of the respondents had medium perceived effectiveness about the services of the mobile applications followed by low (19.16%) and high (13.34%) perceived effectiveness. The outcomes of this research contribute to a better understanding of the perceived effectiveness of mobile applications in agriculture and provides valuable insights into the availability, acceptance, usage, and satisfaction levels of these apps among farmers. Farmers are more likely to perceive mobile applications as effective when they are readily available and easily accessible in their daily farming activities. Alignment with specific needs and preferences is crucial for adoption. Promoting usage through training and support improves perceived app effectiveness. Farmer satisfaction, user feedback, and issue resolution enhance this perception. Emphasizing these aspects enables mobile applications to be more finely tuned to meet farmers' specific needs, leading to increased adoption, higher utilization, and ultimately, improved support for agricultural practices.