Determination of wheat producing farmers' use of information and communication technologies: The case of Sarikaya district

Technological developments and the adoption of these technologies and the effective and efficient use of resources are extremely important in ensuring agricultural development. This study has four aims. The first is to determine farmers' purposes of using Information Communication Technology (ICT), the second is to determine the obstacles to ICT use, the third is to explain the relationship between farmers' ICT use and age, gender, income and education, and the fourth is to reveal the factors affecting the intention to use and adopt ICT. To achieve this goal, data was collected by survey method from 211 farmers producing wheat in Sarıkaya district of Yozgat province. Farmers' purposes of using ICT and the obstacles to ICT use are explained with descriptive statistics. The relationship between farmers' ICT use and age, gender, income and education was revealed by correlation analyses. The impact of factors on ICT adoption and use was calculated through Structural Equation Modeling. According to the results of the research,It was determined that the three most important obstacles to farmers' use of ICT were insufficient knowledge, farmers' traditionalism and high cost. It was determined that farmers mainly use ICT for communication, weather forecast and general information search. A negative relationship was found between farmers' ICT use and age, and a positive relationship with education and gender. In this study, the high average age (53.80) shows that it is a significant obstacle to farmers' technology adoption. It was determined that perceived benefit had a 42% effect on farmers' adoption and use of ICT, attitude had a 41% effect, and perceived benefit had a 49% effect on attitude. As a result of this research, since perceived benefit is effective on both attitude development and ICT usage, it can be suggested that practical training activities and projects be carried out so that farmers can perceive the benefits of ICT.