While information and communication technologies (ICT) have proven to be useful in boosting agricultural production and productivity, regardless of the geographical location, much of the discussion on ICT and their impact focus on the global north, with deficient literature on the global south. The limited account of the global south shows mixed conclusions on the impact of information and communication technologies on agricultural production, with most studies focusing on crop production, as a proxy for agricultural production, leaving out livestock production. Animated by this concern, this article explores the impact of ICTs on agricultural production (crop and livestock) in Africa using panel data from 32 African countries and the panel autoregressive distributed lag model as the estimation technique. We find that individuals using internet significantly increased crop production in the long run. Specifically, a percentage increase in internet patronage increases crop production by 0.071% but significantly decreases the livestock production index, both in the short and long run. Mobile phone subscriptions had a significant negative impact on crop production in the long run but had a significant positive impact on livestock production in the long run. Fixed phone subscriptions significantly increased crop production in the long run but significantly decreased livestock production index in the long run. The findings show bidirectional causality between crop production and internet patronage, livestock production and individuals using internet, crop production and mobile cellular subscription, crop production and net national income, and rural population and both crop and livestock production. We recommend that governments in Africa increase funding investment in digital technologies to foster increased agricultural production while addressing structural challenges that constrain increased access to digital agricultural technologies. It might be useful if governments in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) incentivize the telecommunication companies to extend digital coverage to rural areas through tax rebates and holidays to encourage rural inclusion in the digital space to bridge the digital divide.

This paper assessed crop farmers’ access and utilization of climate information services (CIS) and impact of CIS use on crop yields in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. The multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 405 farmers from the State, and data were collected through a survey of the farmers using a questionnaire. We employed descriptive statistics, endogenous treatment effect, and Heckman probit selection model to analyze the data collected. The result indicates that a majority (89%) of the farmers accessed climate information and that the common sources of climate information include agricultural extension officers, fellow farmers, and radio. This study shows that 88% of the farmers used climate information services in making farming decisions. Farmers’ age, household size, marital status, farming experience, income extension contact, ownership of television, ownership of radio, ownership of mobile phone, proximity to the market, workshop/training participation, climate events experienced, and knowledge of appropriate application of fertilizer significantly influenced both access and utilization of CIS. The use of CIS in planning for farming activities significantly increased rice, maize, and cassava yields. The study demonstrates the important contribution of climate information services in crop production. We therefore recommend that access and use of climate information services in agricultural communities should be increased.

This study examined the impacts of climate change on okra and tomato yields. Fertilizer consumption and credit to the crop sector were considered as covariates in the analysis. Time-series data, spanning a period of 40 years, were obtained from various sources. An autoregressive distributed lag model was applied to analyze short- and long-term impacts of climate change and agricultural inputs on okra and tomato yields. Not all variables were stationary at levels (order zero), but they were all significant at first difference, indicating the presence of cointegration. The Bound’s test F-ratio was statistically significant and implied the presence of long- and short-term relationships among the variables studied. The mean temperatures had negative impacts on okra and tomato yields in both the short and long terms. Credit guaranteed to the crop sector had positive short- and long-term impacts on tomato yield; fertilizer consumption had a negative long-term impact on okra yield. Our study concludes that climate change, particularly rising temperature, impacts herbaceous fruit crop production in Nigeria. Therefore, we recommend that breeding and disseminating climate-smart tomato and okra varieties will help fruit crop farmers respond to rising temperatures.

The study assessed the awareness, access and utilization of certified seeds by rice farmers in Ebonyi State. One hundred and Twenty respondents were selected for the study using a multi-stage random sampling procedure. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and analyzed with percentages, mean and Probit regression at 5% significance level. Results show that 51.7% of the farmers were aware of certified rice seeds. The main sources of information on certified seeds were cooperative associations (72.5%) and mass media (49.0 %). Certified rice seeds were available for the farmers (x̄ =1.8) but not always accessible ( x̄= 1.3). Majority of the farmers utilized FARO 44 (74.2%) due to its early maturing and high yielding quality. Membership of a cooperative association (0.600) and ownership of phones (0.012) had positive significant influence on the utilization of certified seeds. The study concludes that rice farmers have low access to certified seeds and recommends that the value chain for the distribution of certified seeds should be re-invigorated to ensure that certified seeds become more accessible to farmers