IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ibn/jasjnl/v11y2024i6p32.html

Understanding The Purpose and Potential Popularity of Mobile Phone Use in Zambia’s Maize Production

Author

Listed:
  • Gershom Endelani Mwalupaso
  • Xu Tian
  • Eunice Matafwali
  • Moses Chansa Mwamba
  • Essiagnon John-Philippe Alavo
  • Aseres Mamo Ethetie
  • Mariko Korotoumou
  • Fariya Waseem

Abstract

There is a growing use of mobile phones in rural areas on account of its relative inexpensiveness and lack of requirement for an urban environment. As a platform for accessing information through text messages and voice calls, farmers are able to collect agricultural information which may lead to higher productivity due to technology spillover. If the use of mobile phones contributes to the improvement of farmers’ productivity, their agricultural output level should increase. In this study, we investigate the adoption of mobile phones to obtain agricultural information and its effect on smallholder maize farmers’ production using cross-sectional data from Zambia. Understanding such causal effects is indispensable especially against the background of vision 2030. The propensity score matching (PSM) method was adopted to estimate the average treatment effect of treated of mobile phone adoption in agriculture. We found that the use of mobile phones significantly increases farmers’ productivity, by about 30%. If farmers start to adopt mobile phones to collect agricultural information, the total maize output would also increase by 30.36%, which would culminate in feeding two more people per household daily for the whole year. Therefore, we cautiously conclude that mobile phone use in agriculture serves the purpose of contributing to the fight against hunger via enhancing maize production and this is driving its popularity among smallholder farmers in rural Zambia.

Suggested Citation

  • Gershom Endelani Mwalupaso & Xu Tian & Eunice Matafwali & Moses Chansa Mwamba & Essiagnon John-Philippe Alavo & Aseres Mamo Ethetie & Mariko Korotoumou & Fariya Waseem, 2024. "Understanding The Purpose and Potential Popularity of Mobile Phone Use in Zambia’s Maize Production," Journal of Agricultural Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 11(6), pages 1-32, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:ibn:jasjnl:v:11:y:2024:i:6:p:32
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jas/article/download/0/0/39234/40056
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jas/article/view/0/39234
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shimamoto, Daichi & Yamada, Hiroyuki & Gummert, Martin, 2015. "Mobile phones and market information: Evidence from rural Cambodia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 135-141.
    2. Carolyn Heinrich & Alessandro Maffioli & Gonzalo Vázquez, 2010. "A Primer for Applying Propensity-Score Matching," SPD Working Papers 1005, Inter-American Development Bank, Office of Strategic Planning and Development Effectiveness (SPD).
    3. Lee R. Lynd & Jeremy Woods, 2011. "Perspective: A new hope for Africa," Nature, Nature, vol. 474(7352), pages 20-21, June.
    4. Jenny C. Aker, 2010. "Information from Markets Near and Far: Mobile Phones and Agricultural Markets in Niger," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(3), pages 46-59, July.
    5. Jenny Aker, 2008. "Does Digital Divide or Provide? The Impact of Cell Phones on Grain Markets in Niger," Working Papers 154, Center for Global Development.
    6. Boris Bravo-Ureta & Daniel Solís & Víctor Moreira López & José Maripani & Abdourahmane Thiam & Teodoro Rivas, 2007. "Technical efficiency in farming: a meta-regression analysis," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 57-72, February.
    7. Alberto Abadie & Guido W. Imbens, 2006. "Large Sample Properties of Matching Estimators for Average Treatment Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 74(1), pages 235-267, January.
    8. Marco Caliendo & Sabine Kopeinig, 2008. "Some Practical Guidance For The Implementation Of Propensity Score Matching," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 31-72, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gershom Endelani Mwalupaso & Shangao Wang & Zhangxing Xu & Xu Tian, 2019. "Towards Auspicious Agricultural Informatization—Implication of Farmers’ Behavioral Intention Apropos of Mobile Phone Use in Agriculture," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-21, November.
    2. Takele, Habtamu & Alemayehu, Mekuriaw & Geberu, Demiss Mulatu, 2023. "Outcome evaluation of WASH intervention in rural households at Jawi district, Northwest Ethiopia: Mixed method design, goal based evaluation," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    3. Alexander Erler & Steffen Sirries & Christian Bauer & Bernhard Herz, 2015. "Exchange Market Pressure and Monetary Policy in Emerging Market Economies: New Evidence from Treatment-effect Estimations," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(3), pages 470-485, August.
    4. Wendimu, Mengistu Assefa & Henningsen, Arne & Gibbon, Peter, 2016. "Sugarcane Outgrowers in Ethiopia: “Forced” to Remain Poor?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 84-97.
    5. Gershom Endelani Mwalupaso & Shangao Wang & Sanzidur Rahman & Essiagnon John-Philippe Alavo & Xu Tian, 2019. "Agricultural Informatization and Technical Efficiency in Maize Production in Zambia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-17, April.
    6. Ousmane Djibo & Maman Nafiou Malam, 2024. "The Digital Divide and Poverty in Developing Countries: Evidence from Farm Households in Niger," Journal of Quantitative Economics, Springer;The Indian Econometric Society (TIES), vol. 22(3), pages 773-789, September.
    7. Ramírez-Álvarez, Aurora Alejandra, 2019. "Land titling and its effect on the allocation of public goods: Evidence from Mexico," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 1-1.
    8. Fatema, Naureen, 2019. "Can land title reduce low-intensity interhousehold conflict incidences and associated damages in eastern DRC?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 1-1.
    9. Dinesh Dhakal & David O’Brien & Peter Mueser, 2021. "Government Policy and Performance of Agricultural Cooperatives: A Case Study in Chitwan District, Nepal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-20, November.
    10. Andreas Peichl & Nico Pestel & Sebastian Siegloch, 2013. "The politicians’ wage gap: insights from German members of parliament," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 156(3), pages 653-676, September.
    11. Bin Tang & Yue Wang & Yujuan Gao & Shijin Wu & Haoyang Li & Yang Chen & Yaojiang Shi, 2020. "The Effect of Boarding on the Mental Health of Primary School Students in Western Rural China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-17, November.
    12. Shen, Chung-Hua & Wu, Meng-Wen & Chen, Ting-Hsuan & Fang, Hao, 2016. "To engage or not to engage in corporate social responsibility: Empirical evidence from global banking sector," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 207-225.
    13. Whelan, Adele & McGuinness, Seamus & Barrett, Alan, 2021. "Review of International Approaches to Evaluating Rural and Community Development Investment and Supports," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS124.
    14. Sánchez-Braza, Antonio & Pablo-Romero, María del P., 2014. "Evaluation of property tax bonus to promote solar thermal systems in Andalusia (Spain)," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 832-843.
    15. Aradom Gebrekidan Abbay & Roel Rutten, 2016. "Does spatial proximity to small towns matter for rural livelihoods? A propensity score matching analysis in Ethiopia," Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences, Springer, vol. 9(3), pages 287-307, October.
    16. Gonzalo Nunez-Chaim & Henry G. Overman & Capucine Riom, 2024. "Does subsidising business advice improve firm performance? Evidence from a large RCT," CEP Discussion Papers dp1977, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    17. Heinrich, Carolyn J. & Mueser, Peter R. & Troske, Kenneth & Jeon, Kyung-Seong & Kahvecioglu, Daver C., 2009. "New Estimates of Public Employment and Training Program Net Impacts: A Nonexperimental Evaluation of the Workforce Investment Act Program," IZA Discussion Papers 4569, IZA Network @ LISER.
    18. Andrea Ichino & Fabrizia Mealli & Tommaso Nannicini, 2008. "From temporary help jobs to permanent employment: what can we learn from matching estimators and their sensitivity?," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(3), pages 305-327.
    19. Ibrahim Hanafy Mohammad, Hind, 2025. "Welfare Effects of Social Cash Transfer Programs: Evidence from Egypt’s Takaful and Karamah Programs," EconStor Research Reports 319784, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    20. Naureen Fatema & Shahriar Kibriya, 2018. "Givers of great dinners know few enemies: The impact of household food sufficiency and food sharing on low intensity interhousehold and community conflict in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo," HiCN Working Papers 267, Households in Conflict Network.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ibn:jasjnl:v:11:y:2024:i:6:p:32. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Canadian Center of Science and Education (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cepflch.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.