Mobile Technology and Gender: A Pathway to Increased Yield and Farm Profit for Smallholder Farmers in Bangladesh

Abstract

Information technology (IT) including mobile phones, smartphones, tablets, watches and an expanding range of supporting technologies, is now embedded as a significant driver of innovation and economic growth. Despite extensive literature on barriers and enablers of female access and benefit, few studies provide quantitative evidence on how more female versus male IT access benefits smallholder households in developing countries. This study contributes to the empirical evidence by assessing how mobile phone ownership, particularly in female-headed households, influenced agricultural yield and profit for smallholder farmers in Bangladesh, using the 2012 and 2015 national farm household survey and spatial climate data. Our empirical approach addresses the challenges posed by spatially clustered data in systematically stratified survey samples, potential endogeneity and self-selection bias. We employ multilevel mixed-effects generalised linear regression models and incorporate household fixed-effects specifications to control for these issues and provide a more robust analysis of the relationship between mobile phone ownership and agricultural outcomes. Based on four out of six of our most robust estimates, we found that mobile phone ownership is associated with significant increases in both yield (4.1%–8.3%) and farm profit (25.4%–32.3%) for female-headed households. Our conclusions highlight the potential for female digital inclusion to enhance smallholder profitability and yields in Bangladesh and other rural, agrarian economies with low- to middle-income levels.

JEL Classification: J16, O13, Q16