Suitability and Tendencies of Small-Scale Agricultural Producers Toward E-Commerce: An In-Depth Interview Study for Evidence from a Developing Country

This study focuses on identifying the challenges faced by small family farmers and examining the potential of e-commerce for marketing agricultural products.It aims to observe the suitability and tendencies of small-scale agricultural producers toward ecommerce and to determine their readiness for this marketing method. Given the rising trend of e-commerce and digital marketing, this research holds significant importance for the agricultural future of a developing economy. Based on in-depth interviews with 27 farmers from 11 villages, our findings showed that small family farmers do not have infrastructure issues regarding e-commerce. However, their lack of knowledge about ecommerce, adherence to the existing system, and lack of trust in e-commerce are identified as the main obstacles to e-commerce implementation. This study contributes to the existing knowledge by offering a conceptual framework on e-commerce adoption that has five main elements regards to adaptation to e-commerce, namely (1) the obstacles they face, (2) the future of agricultural production, (3) marketing of agricultural products, (4) production problems, and (5) the nature of e-commerce