Impact of ICT investment, ownership and use in the cassava value chains in South Western Nigeria

Most of Africa's peoples live in rural areas where agriculture is the main economic activity, dominated by small enterprises, traditional technologies and low productivity. Transforming agriculture with modern technologies, including information and communications technologies (ICT), is the required strategy for improving rural and national wellbeing in African countries. This perspective motivated this study, which investigated the patterns and impact of use of ICT in cassava value chains in South Western Nigeria. The study performed regression analyses on primary data collected through in-depth interviews of 139 cassava growers, processors and marketers. ICT ownership bore a direct relationship with output values, but neither ICT investment nor use could predict output values or output-input ratios. Recommended are strategies to encourage young and educated youth to venture into value chain activities, and to promote the expansion of cassava growing, processing and marketing thereby catalyzing more diverse beneficial uses of ICT in the value chain.