Enhancing farmers’ business skills and income through WhatsApp-mediated small group communication in cooperative societies

Purpose Although farmers are considered the major producers of the cassava plant before it is transformed or processed into other consumable forms, their income level is sometimes not commensurate with their overall production efforts. For this reason, this study sought to explore the impact of using social media small group communication to enhance farmers' business skills and income levels in cooperative societies. Design/methodology/approach The study used a quasi-experimental design to achieve its aim. The researchers sampled 540 farmers who were members of cooperative societies using the respondent-driven sampling technique. The participants were in treatment and control groups of 270 each participants. The participants in the WhatsApp small group communication were further grouped into three based on the format of their interventions. They were the text, live call and integrated formats. Data were collected three times-at baseline, after the intervention and one year after the intervention as a follow-up assessment. Findings The result showed a significant role of WhatsApp-mediated small-group communication in improving farmers' agribusiness skills and income levels in cooperative societies within the study area. Also, there was a significant predictive power of WhatsApp’s small group communication format because the integrated approach (ß = 0.412) contributed more than text (ß = 0.272) and live call (ß = 0.188). Originality/value This study has shown that in addition to WhatsApp-supported small-group communication being effective in improving business skills and income level, the communication format is also a crucial consideration.