With the primary goal of Vietnam to lead in agricultural development, one of the strategies they are currently taking is to make markets accessible to their farmers (Ha et al., 2015; Tran and Dinh, 2014). However, Vietnamese farmers lack access to relevant marketing information, hindering them from maximizing this opportunity (Pham, 2018).
Mobile phones, an example of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), which can facilitate the transmission of information in an instant and different digital forms, is considered as one of the solutions to the said problem (Ajani, 2014; Alavion and Allahyari, 2012; Bachaspati, 2018; Baourakis et., 2002; Kaware and Sain, 2015). It can connect with other producers and customers and access relevant market information such as the current prices (Hoang, 2020). Although, its use in agricultural marketing requires it to be user-friendly and accessible to fulfill its purposes with potential users (Alavion et al., 2017).
Even with the agreement that ICTs are beneficial, there is a lack of study on their adoption by Vietnamese farmers in agricultural marketing (VietNamNews, 2017). The study of Hoang (2020) aims to fill this gap, explicitly finding out the determinants of Vietnamese farmers adopting ICTs for fruit marketing. Through a cross-sectional survey, this study was conducted in Huong Son District, Ha Tinh Province, Central Vietnam, where agriculture is their primary source of living with large accounts on fruit crops.
In summary, Hoang (2020)’s study shows that gender, income, distance to the market, and participation in training programs affect the adoption of ICTs for fruit marketing in the said locality. Men who have higher income and participate in training programs to use ICTs have more access and capacity to adopt it. On the other hand, farmers who are far from the market have more interest in taking part in this initiative. These only show that for ICT adoption in fruit marketing to be successful, there is also a need for financial support and training programs to help the Vietnamese farmers adjust and become part of this innovation.
Read more about the study here.
References:
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Alavion, S. J., Allahyari, M. S., Al-Rimawi, A. S., & Surujlal, J. (2017). Adoption of agricultural E-marketing: application of the theory of planned behavior. Journal of international food & agribusiness marketing, 29(1), 1-15.
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Photo source: FAO
Article contributed by: Mark Vincent Mercene, CCComDev intern