ACCESSIBLITY AND UTILIZATION OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY AMONG CASSAVA FARMERS IN UYO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA ,AKWA IBOM STATE, NIGERIA

ABSTRACT The study was primarily undertaken to examine the accessibility and utilization of ICT among cassava farmers in Uyo local government area. The specific objectives of the study were to identify the socio-economic characteristics of cassava farmers, examine the type of ICT tools available to Cassava farmers, examine the level of accessibility of ICT to cassava farmers, examine the extent of utilization of ICTs by cassava farmers, examine the perceived benefits of ICT tools and examine the factors affecting the utilization of ICT by cassava farmers in the study area.

Semi-Structured questionnaires were used to collect data from the respondents. Five villages in each of the clans were randomly selected, namely Etoi, Offot, Ikono, Oku. Furthermore five cassava farmers were randomly selected in each of the villages making a total number of 100 cassava farmers.

Results of the study showed that a high proportion (33%) of the respondents were within the age bracket of 41-50 years. Majority (66%) of the respondents were male. Most of the farmers (59%) were married.  

The findings also revealed that majority of the farmers had access to Radio, Television (TV), Mobile Phones  but most of the other modern ICTs were not accessible to them. It was also found that these ICT tools that were accessible were Always utilized by farmers and were perceived to be very effective in obtaining information, and communicating effectively among the farmers.