Ownership and Utilization of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for Supporting Commercial Farming Activities in Yogyakarta Subejo, Ratih Ineke Wati, Mesalia Kriska, Najmu Tsaqib Ahda, Ade Intan Cristian, Ani Dwi Wimatsari, Sylvatra Puspita Sari, Paksi Mei Penggalih
Study Program of Extension and Agricultural Communication UGM and Study Program of Extension and Development Communication Graduate School Program UGM
Abstract
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) is an alternative source to obtain the information of agricultural innovations. This research aims to investigate the ICTs ownership and the utilization of ICTs for supporting commercial farming activities in Yogyakarta. It was conducted in four sub-district namely Patuk (Gunungkidul Regency), Turi (Sleman Regency), Sanden (Bantul Regency) and Panjatan (Kulon Progo Regency). Farmer samples were selected by simple random sampling technique.The total sample was 120 peasants. The research results show that smartphone and mobile-phone are the most popular media owned by farmers although the utilities is limited to dial function. Internet access in smartphone is not functional because of the signal difficulty in some areas. The utilization of ICTs for supporting commercial farming activities which includes for searching agricultural information. Technical production is the popular topic farmer search from electronic media, including smartphone, mobile-phone, radio, and television. Farmers also access marketing information mostly from mobile-phone and smartphone. They sometimes watch success stories of a farmer from television since this topic can inspire them to work harder as farmers. Human interest, policy and funding are not the popular topic they search from electronic media.
