The Impact of ICT on the Productivity of Urban Farmers in Nigeria: The Case Study of Abuja, FCT, Nigeria

The study investigated the extent to which farmers in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Nigeria, make use of ICT in their farm work by examining their level of ICT awareness and their level of access to ICT for agriculture. Primary data were collected by the researcher and trained enumerators, using a well-structured questionnaire and interview schedule which was administered to 170 respondents selected using multiple-stage random sampling technique. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were employed in the data analysis. The study revealed that the use of ICTs for agricultural activities in the study area is still at very low level due to low level of awareness and lack of ICT skills. Results obtained indicate that 55 % of the respondents had at least secondary education, and 33 % of the respondents fall within the age brackets of 26 35 years which indicates that there is a ready pool of youths that could be trained on the use of ICT for agriculture in the study area. Provision of infrastructural facilities, periodic training of farmers, subsidizing of ICT facilities as well as organizing public enlightenment programmes were recommended for the enhancement of the farmers ICT awareness and their productive use of ICTs.