Over the years, access and use of electronic conventional and new media in the form of information and communication technologies (ICTs) have benefited the agricultural sector. In the coastal area of Kulon Progo Regency Yogyakarta, high electronic media use for agricultural activities came with modernization initiatives. Factors such as age, education, income, and purpose resulted in varied conventional and new media use.
Electronic media particularly the television were used to obtain social, cultural, economic, political, and environmental information. While the television remained to be the most dominant medium, young, well-educated, high-income farmers relied more on ICTs such as mobile phones and smart phones. The opposite was noted among old, less educated, and low-income farmers who preferred using conventional electronic media such as the television.
Across age groups, the television served as source of production, policy, human interest and success stories. Meanwhile, younger farmers maximized mobile phone and smart phone functions to obtain information about the market and recent technological innovations. Since the farmers in Kulon Progo dealt with perishable horticultural crops, mobile phones and smart phones permitted speedy connection and facilitation of sales with buyers.
It was evident in the census and in-depth interviews that socio-economic factors primarily drove the choice to use new media. These socio-economic factors coupled with robust rural infrastructure would be helpful in providing equal opportunities for farmers to address their agriculture-related problems.
Source: Subejo, Subejo & Untari, Dyah & Wati, Ratih & Mewasdinta, Gagar. (2019). Modernization of Agriculture and Use of Information and Communication Technologies by Farmers in Coastal Yogyakarta. Indonesian Journal of Geography. 51. 332. 10.22146/ijg.41706.
Photo Credit: Asian Development Bank CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0.