Awareness and Perception of Digital Technologies by Smallholder Farmers in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

This study aimed to identify and assess smallholder farmers' awareness and perceptions of digital technologies in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The study used a cross-sectional survey of a purposively selected sample of 250 smallholder farmers from Port St Johns (PSJ) and Ingquza Hill (IH) Local Municipalities. The Likert scale and a perceptive index were used to analyse the data. The study found that 57.4% and 74.7% of smallholder farmers were aware of digital technologies. Fifty-six percent to 70.6%of smallholder farmers were aware of a combination of smartphones, radios, and TV. There was indifference to the reliability of digital technologies as indicated by 42.7% to 52.9%, with 97.8% to 98.1% highlighting the need to improve awareness of digital technologies, mainly through awareness campaigns and information days as indicated by 51.6% from PSJ and farmer training as highlighted by 50.6% from IH. About 76.4% of the smallholder farmers did not have adequate knowledge of digital technologies, while 54.4% did not find them user-friendly. However, 88.0% indicated that it made farming easier, is labour saving (69.6%), improves agricultural production (81.2%), improves access to information (77.6%), easier access to extension (65.6%), and will increase farm output (71.6%). However, digital technologies were expensive (78.8%), caused a digital divide (69.2%), and required specific skills (81.0%). There was a negative perception towards digital technologies by 69.6% of the smallholder farmers. The study concluded that negative perception is mainly influenced by cost, skill requirement, lack of knowledge, and difficulty in use. There was awareness of less complicated digital technologies. Recommendations include promoting digital technologies through farmer groups or associations such as farmer field schools. Awareness campaigns through extension officers can be used to promote digital technologies to smallholder farmers.