Delphi Technique Based Project Performance Framework for Mobile Phone Usage in Agricultural Practices

Abstract

With the rapid development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), data and information can be effectively generated, stored, analyzed, disseminated and used to support farmers and farming communities to improve agricultural productivity and sustainability. Information services for farmers at the national and regional level are a promising new field of research and application in the emerging field of e-agriculture. The development of ICT projects have increased in many agricultural fields to ensure that overall needs of farmer in business requirements are fulfilled. However, many ICT projects failed to take off such as a series studies produced. Reports suggest that the adoption rate of the small-scale farmers to technology is very low, in fact significantly about half in percentage. This is despite the significant impetus that phone and mobile driven gives to acquisition of necessary agricultural information. And yet, analyses of mobile phone based technology for agricultural development have presented significant gaps. Moreover, premised on the low adoption rates among farmers of all these mobile technologies, it has become apparent that a new mobile usage platform should be created and placed under keen consideration. There is evidently an impetus to initiate a mobile platform that would be built to take advantage and even synchronize all available technologies in order to present an efficient, timely, affordable and expedient mobile usage platform that would raise agricultural productivity. Using the Delphi technique is a way that such a technology can be conversed. A study was conducted on mobile phone communication in diffusion of goat rearing in Kitui in 2013. This study looked into the role played by the mobile phone in undertaking goat rearing. Another study conducted in Limuru sought to explore how dairy farmers can access credit better using mobile technologies. Though these aforementioned studies were focusing on mobile telephone technologies, there is limited evidence and information on developed framework for the mobile phone usage in agricultural practices in Kenya. Thus, a study on mobile phone usage and how it applied to agricultural practices was thus warranted. Thus, the aim of the paper was to use Delphi technique on development of a project performance framework for mobile phone usage in agricultural practices in Kenya.