Agro-based Industry, Mobile Phone and Youth: A Recipe for Success

European Journal of Scientific Research ISSN 1450-216X Vol.36 No.1 (2009), pp.41-48 EuroJournals Publishing, Inc. 2009 http://www.eurojournals.com/ejsr.htm Agro-based Industry, Mobile Phone and Youth: A Recipe for Success Hayrol Azril Mohamed Shaffril Laboratory of Rural Advancement and Agricultural Extension Institute for Social Science Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia E-mail: hayrol82@gmail.com Tel: +603-89468531 Md. Salleh Hassan Universiti Putra Malaysia Musa Abu Hassan Universiti Putra Malaysia Jeffrey Lawrence D Silva Universiti Putra Malaysia Abstract Mobile phone has become more relevant in the modern days and agriculture is one of the sectors that benefited from it. Mobile phone without doubt is one of the main instruments that can help agriculture community especially to ease the communication process and agriculture community must be encouraged to utilize it wisely. This paper tends to know the perception of Malaysian youth agro-based entrepreneurs regarding the contribution of mobile phone in their agro-business.. Results indicated that majority of respondents used mobile phone frequently while majority of the respondents had high perception on the contribution of mobile phone in their agro-business productivity. Results also indicated that majority of Malaysian agro-based entrepreneurs believed that mobile phone can help them in getting information on agriculture every time they need it. Pearson Correlation employed proved that age has negative and significant correlation with perception on mobile phone contribution Keywords: Mobile Phone, Youth Agro-based Entrepreneurs and Agriculture Information 1. Introduction Mobile phone can play a key role in disseminating relevant information to the rural people involved in agriculture and related sectors. Mobile devices especially mobile phone cannot be denied its importance in the era of globalization. According to Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), majority of public in Malaysia nowadays own ICT tools. This is based on the the recent statistics that indicate that there are more than 13 million mobile phone subscribers in the country, with the penetration rate now surpassing the 50 percent mark while more than 84 million SMS were sent everyday. In spite of this big number, does it reflect its impact in the agriculture community?

Agro-based Industry, Mobile Phone and Youth: A Recipe for Success 42 The impact of information and communication technology in agriculture is not new, and many forms of indigenous knowledge are still central in managing agriculture. In some parts of the world, especially in the developed countries, however, the mobile phone is a ubiquitous technology of urban-rural socio-economic speed, and it is considered a development tool to leapfrog legacy infrastructure and innovate more quickly than through older industrial forms. Mobile phones are speeding up ways in which farmers get, exchange, and manipulate information. They rework the way farmers interact with markets and cities. Increasingly, they enable farmers to focus, search, and extract useful and up-to-date market information from social and business networks (Ilahiane, 2007). Farmers are also able to make tentative decisions much more easily than before. Others like Bayes et al. (1999), Goodman (2005) and Kwaku and Kweku (2006) have shown how mobile phone adoption leads to greater social cohesion and improved social relationships. While voice and SMS services drive improvements in social relations for the most part, the emerging press on the growth of mobile phone based social-networking in the developing world goes to show the growing importance of this aspect. Mobile phones are, therefore, becoming increasingly important to Malaysian youth agro-based entrepreneurs as an infrastructure service for improving efficiency of agriculture markets, promoting investment, and contributing to empowerment, as an economic sector where agro-based entreprenuers can make big profits, and pay taxes, as a development tool where mobile phones have increased the efficiency of service delivery to the agro-based entrepreneurs (e.g. weather information, market prices), or opened opportunities for new services providing agriculture information through SMS and as a household expenditure that maintains social capital and contributes to economic management (Nigel, 2004). Despites its importance, do youth agro-based entrepreneurs realize the significance on the role of mobile phone in their agro-business? Thus, this paper tries to investigate it. 2. Methodology Respondents for this study were chosen from all states in Peninsular Malaysia. A total of 134 respondents who were youth agro-based entrepreneurs were interviewed. The respondents were sampled based on the list gathered form three sources which were Farmers Authority Organization (FOA), Agro Bank Malaysia and Department of Agriculture Malaysia (DOA). A simple random sampling was used based on the list given by the three agencies. The respondents selected were entrepreneurs who were involved in food processing, farming, plantation, fisheries, non-food processing and animal rearing. Data for this research was collected using questionnaire through face to face interview. Trained enumerators were employed to administer the questionnaires. The respondents were asked questions regarding their profile, profile of business conducted, level of mobile phone usage and their perception towards what mobile phone can contribute to their agro-business. The data collection process of this study was completed in six months. PASW software was applied for the purpose of analysis where applications such as frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, ANOVA, Independent t-test and Pearson Correlation were employed. 3. Results 3.1. The Respondents Profile Table 1 concludes the results regarding respondents profiles such as age, gender, education achievement, level of education in agriculture and zone where they lived. Data presented in Table 1 portrays that majority of respondents were male (70.1%), aged between 36-40 years old (41.0%), possessed Malaysia Education Certificate/ Malaysia Vocational Education Certificate (SPM/SPMV) (52.9%), have no formal education in agriculture (84.3%) and live in east coast zone of Malaysia (47.8%).

43 Hayrol Azril Mohamed Shaffril, Md. Salleh Hassan, Musa Abu Hassan and Jeffrey Lawrence D Silva Results depict in Table 1 signal that minority of the respondents were those whose age were between 20-30 years old (23.9%), youth women entrepreneurs (29.9%), have degree/ master or PhD (9.6%), have degree in agriculture (0.7%) and lived in the northern zone (11.8%). This minority groups should be encouraged and further developed by the responsible agencies. The education advantages that this minority group has should be utilized in order to develop them as future successful agrobusineesmen/ women. Table 1: Profile of Respondents (n=134) Profile Frequency Percentage Mean Age (years) 33.9 20-30 32 23.9 31-35 47 35.1 36-40 55 41.0 Gender Male 94 70.1 Female 40 29.9 Education Achievement Primary School 4 2.9 SPM/SPMV 72 52.9 STPM/Matriculation 22 16.2 Diploma 24 18.4 Degree/ Master/PhD 13 9.6 Level of Education in Agriculture No Formal Education in Agriculture 113 84.3 Certificate inagriculture 16 11.9 Diploma in Agriculture 4 3.0 Degree in Agriculture 1 0.7 Zone East Coast 65 47.8 Central 26 20.6 Southern 27 19.9 Northern 16 11.8 3.2. Respondents Business Characteristics Table 2 summarizes the result gained concerning business characteristics of the agro-business conducted. Results concluded that every three out of ten respondents interviewed were food processing entrepreneurs (29.8%). Most of them have conducted their business individually (77.4%). Half of the respondents (50.0%) have run their agro-business for a period of 6-10 years while mean for period of involvement was 6.78 years. Based on the results of comparing value for starting their investment with the value they gained per year, it proves that agriculture is a thriving business. The mean income gained per year was RM97, 326.12 compared to RM18, 869.02, the amount invested to start their business. More than one third of respondents (37.3%) have invested between RM4,000- RM11,000 to start their business while more than two fifth of respondents (45.1%) have gained between RM28,001- RM60,000.

Agro-based Industry, Mobile Phone and Youth: A Recipe for Success 44 Table 2: Business characteristics of respondents (n=134) Variables Frequency Percentage Mean Type of agro-business Food processing 40 29.8 Animal rearing 34 25.4 Farming 34 25.4 Fisheries 12 9.0 Plantation 5 3.7 Non-Food processing 5 3.7 More than one agro-based project 4 3.0 Agro-based project type of ownership Individual 127 77.4 Family 26 15.8 Group 11 6.8 Period of involvement 6.78 < 5 years 34 25.4 6-10 years 67 50.0 >11 years 33 24.6 Amount of starting Investment [Value in Ringgit Malaysia (RM)] 18,869.03 <4,000 36 26.9 4,001-11,000 50 37.3 >11,001 48 35.8 Amount of income gained per year [Value in Ringgit Malaysia (RM)] 97,326.12 <28,000 26 15.9 28,001-60,000 74 45.1 >60,001 64 39.0 3.3. Perception on Potential Contribution of Mobile Phone Table 3 portrays overall distribution regarding respondents perception towards contribution of mobile phone in their agro-business. Majority of respondents (54.5%) have high perception towards mobile phone contribution on their agro-business. Almost two fifth of them moderately admitted the importance of mobile phone towards their business while only 6.0% of respondents have low perception on mobile phone contribution. Table 3: Overall Distribution on Perception towards contributions of Mobile Phone (n=134) Level Frequency Percentage Low (0-1.33) 8 6.0 Moderate (1.34-2.67) 53 39.6 High (2.68-4) 73 54.5 3.4. Potential Mobile Phone Contribution in Increasing Agro-based Productivity Based on the pre-test result, a total of 11 potential contributions of mobile phone that can benefit agrobased entrepreneurs were identified. All of the 11 contributions were asked to the respondents. They were asked to indicate the level of each potential contribution using scale of 0 (no contribution) to 4 (very high). Analysis done for each contribution is presented in Table 4. Besides showing percentage distribution for each scale, this table also shows value of mean score for each contribution. Three highest mobile phone contributions to agro-based entrepreneurs were 1) getting information every time needed (M= 3.13), 2) enhancing networking in getting technical information of agriculture (M= 2.98), and 3) getting updated agriculture information and effective extension channels (M= 2.80) while enabling in offering good price for product (M=2.61) was the lowest. All of these main functions were also found in studies done by Alampay (2006), Lio and Chun Liu (2006) and

45 Hayrol Azril Mohamed Shaffril, Md. Salleh Hassan, Musa Abu Hassan and Jeffrey Lawrence D Silva Szilagyi and Herdon (2006). Based on these three main functions, basically it proves that mobile phone is a powerful tool in providing essential information to agro-based entrepreneurs. Its nature which is easy to handle, the growth of local mobile line companies such as DIGI, CELCOM, MAXIS and the recent one U-MOBILE, expand of its coverage and increasing of services offered, are some of the likely causes identified that contribute to this finding. Table 4: Percentage Distribution of Perception on Mobile Phone Contribution in Respondent Agro-Business (n=134) Roles Percentage 0 1 2 3 4 Mean Getting information every time needed 4.1 10.1 22.7 29.9 33.2 3.13 Enhancing networking in getting technical information of agriculture 3.8 10.1 25.8 34.5 25.8 2.98 Getting updated agriculture information 4.4 16.2 29.3 24.4 25.8 2.80 Effective extension channel 5.5 14.8 31.0 26.8 21.9 2.80 Enhancing ability in getting market information 3.3 13.7 33.7 29.0 20.3 2.79 Getting skills and knowledge of modern technology 4.9 11.5 37.0 26.3 20.3 2.78 Saving time in dealing with related parties 6.3 14.5 30.1 24.7 24.4 2.71 Disseminating new knowledge and technology 5.2 13.7 30.1 31.2 19.7 2.70 Assisting more systematically and efficient in agro-business 5.5 15.9 32.3 25.2 21.1 2.69 Promote products to wider markets 6.0 16.2 27.1 24.7 26.0 2.66 Enabling in offering good price for product 7.4 16.7 27.9 31.8 16.2 2.61 3.5. Differences on perception on contribution of mobile phone For the purpose of revealing any differences on contribution of mobile phone for the factor of zone, education achievement and gender, ANOVA and independent t-test were employed and the results were presented in Table 5. Zone. Zone where the respondents stayed may not affect their perception towards contribution of mobile phone towards their agro-business. Based on the ANOVA test done, F Value (4,134) = 1.446, p >0.05, there is no significant difference in perception towards contribution of mobile phone between the four zones studied. There is a possibility that respondents from the four zones had equal perception on mobile phone contribution among them. The highest mean score recorded for those who lived in east coast zone (M= 2.86), followed by those who lived in central zone and southern zone which recorded the same mean score which was 2.79 and the lowest mean score recorded by those who lived in northern zone (M= 2.37). This result contradicted with what have been done by Hung and Cheng Ling (2003) and Park and Mishra (2003) where they claimed that people that lived in developed zone tend to use internet more compared to people who lived in undeveloped zone. Table 5: Comparison in Contribution of Mobile Phone and Selected Independent Variables Using ANOVA Variables n Mean S.D F p Zone 1.446.233 East Coast 65 2.85.912 Southern 27 2.79.856 Central 26 2.79.715 Northern 16 2.37.510 Independent t-test was used to identify the difference between the perception on mobile phone contribution and respondents level of education. For analysis, respondent s level of education was categorized into two types. First category was on secondary school and below which included those who never went to school, primary school and those who received PMR (Lower Malaysia Education

Agro-based Industry, Mobile Phone and Youth: A Recipe for Success 46 Certificate), SPM (Malaysia Education Certificate) and SPMV (Malaysia Vocational Education Certificate) education. While for the second category which was Pre University and above, it included STPM (Higher Malaysia Education Certificate), Matriculation, diploma, degree, master science and PhD. There was no significant difference found on perception on mobile phone contribution among the two groups studied (Table V). For secondary school and below (M= 2.45, S.D=.577) and for those who received education of Pre university and University [M=2.53, S.D=.650; t (134) = -.824, p=.412]. This result contradicted with those of Harker and Akkeren (2002) and Rice and Katz (2003) where they emphasized that those with higher education have more positive perception on mobile phone contribution compared to the those with lower education. This is a very encouraging situation where those with lower education has admitted the importance of mobile phone and this actually is one of the endeavour that can be practiced to reduce digital divide. Are men and women having any difference in their perception towards mobile phone? Based on the independent t-test done, it was found that there was no significant difference in perception towards mobile phone contribution between male (M=2.49, S.D=.618) and female respondents [M=2.48, S.D=.599; t (134) =.758, p=.412]. This suits with the findings of Tiwaah Frimpong (2009) and Singh and Ryan (1999), where they revealed that there is no difference in mobile phone usage between male and female. One conclusion they drawn from their studies is women who are generally categorized as not being technology friendly are overcoming at least that. This applies not only to women in relatively well-endowed areas but also to those in under-served areas. This is a good starting point for related agencies to initiate gender-specific projects that will promote mobile phone usage and reduce the gap between genders in mobile phone usage. Table 6: Comparison in Agro-based Website Surfing between Level of Education and Gender Using Independent t-test Variables n Min S.D t p Level of Education Received -.824.412 Secondary School and Below 74 2.45.577 Pre University and University 60 2.53.650 Gender.758.901 Male 94 2.49.618 Female 40 2.48.599 3.6. Relationship between perception on contribution of mobile phone and selected independent variables For the purpose of determining the relationship between perception on mobile phone contribution towards respondents agro-business and selected independent variable, Pearson Correlation was employed. Based on the result presented in Table 7, it can be concluded that only age has significant and negative correlation with perception on mobile phone (p=.001). Wilska (2003) and De Silva and Ratnadiwakara (2009) explained that mobile technology is usually adopted faster by younger people. Based on this, there is possibility that the younger respondents of this study (20-30 years) who are involved in agro-business benefited most from their mobile phone usage. However, this study found that factor of involvement period (r= -.064), starting investment (r=-.062) and income gained per year (r -.058) have neglible relationship with the dependent variable studied.

47 Hayrol Azril Mohamed Shaffril, Md. Salleh Hassan, Musa Abu Hassan and Jeffrey Lawrence D Silva Table 7: Relation between selected independent variables and sustainable aspect using Pearson Correlation Independent Variables r p Age -.278.001 Involvement Period -.064.466 Starting Investment -.062.480 Income gained per year -.058.505 4. Discussion and Conclusion Overall, it can be concluded that majority of Malaysian youth agro-based entrepreneurs have high perception towards the mobile phone contribution to their agro-business. Basically, mobile phone contributes a lot to the agro-businessmen in terms of providing them with required information every time they need it, enhancing networking in getting technical information regarding agriculture and getting updated agriculture information. Age proved to have significant and positive relationship with their perception towards the contribution of mobile phone. There is possibility that the older the youth to be, the lesser usage of mobile phone among them. It is suggested that the related agencies such as Department of Agriculture (DOA), Farmers Authority Organization (FOA) and Ministry of Youth and Sports Malaysia (MYSM) should disseminate and advertise agriculture information trough mobile phone services such as SMS and MMS. Both of these services have a great advantage for disseminating large information to the target audience at a glance. Its low cost and easy to handle are the major causes why these two services should be applied widely by the related agencies. A mobile web is an increasing popular service nowadays and it is suggested that agriculture development agencies in this country to have their own mobile web. By having this, it provides service provide via a 24 hour access for youth agrobusinessman to seek any agriculture information they need through the mobile web. It is useless to have all of these facilities if the promotion activity is not been initiated. The promotion activity should include ICT education package where they can concentrate on the use of mobile phone especially among the older agro-based entrepreneurs. Some of them even don t know the capability that mobile phone can offer them besides just for calling purposes. Extension workers should work harder to rectify this problem

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