13 pages., via online joural., Due to inadequate personnel, information communication technologies (ICTs) have become an attractive option for delivery of extension information. This study examined awareness and use of ICTs by farmers in Oyo State, Nigeria. A total of 192 farmers were interviewed. Results indicate that most farmers had no formal education and small farm holdings. Awareness of older ICTs like radio and television was more prevalent among farmers as compared with newer ICTs such as Internet and cable television. However, use of modern ICTs like mobile phones and cable television was greater than that for older technologies such as fax machines. Farmers were constrained in ICT use by prohibitive cost and service failure. The Nigerian government should encourage a liberal policy for affordable prices for modern ICT products, especially mobile telephones.
16 pages., Via online journal., Indigenous Mexican immigrants (Mixtecs) from rural Oaxaca, Mexico, experience a high
level of isolation and seasonal farm work, but the increasing speed of communication
technology stands to overcome these difficulties. For farm workers, the initial experience
of landlines and public pay phones was filled with anxiety and missed connections.
Despite the benefits of mobile phones, their adoption was delayed among Mixtec in
Oxnard, California, because of a combination of legal status, high cost, and seasonal
work. This article finds that a surge in mobile phone adoption and use took place during
a time where production of labor-intensive crops like strawberries increased throughout
California, farm worker settlement patterns matured, and mobile phone plans changed
becoming more affordable and easier to understand. The widespread adoption of mobile
phones brought more predictability to the informal agricultural job market for farm
workers, but this did not necessarily mean higher wages in the strawberry fields.
