ASSESSMENT OF SMALL-SCALE POULTRY FARMERS USE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES (ICTS) IN THE NORTH CENTRAL NIGERIA

The study evaluated the use of information and communication technologies by smallscale poultry farmers in North Central, Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique was used to sample 500 respondents from four North Central States including FCT; Abuja, Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau and Kogi for the study while primary data were collected using a well-structured questionnaire. The research sought to assess the use of ICTs by poultry farmers and to ascertain if the use of ICTs depends on the ICT type. Descriptive statistics and analysis of variance were used to actualize the objectives of the study. The result showed that the majority (65.4%) of the farmers were male, married (70.2%) with a mean household size of 7 persons and highly educated (70.2%). Also, a very high percentage (92%) of the farmers belong to the Poultry Farmers Association as well as 10 years of farming experience (60.4%). The result also revealed that Android phones were the most used ICT, while the least used were zoom, blog, twitter, and printers. However, The results indicated that the use of ICT significantly (p < .05) depended on the ICT type (Android phones, TV, Radio, WhatsApp, Facebook, E-books, Email, Printer, Twitter, Computer, Camera, Blog, Zoom). The study concluded that there is a high level of use of Android phones in North Central Nigeria and that the use of ICTs dependent on the type. Based on these observations, more awareness and training should be provided for poultry farmers in North Central on the relevance of using modern ICTs to access innovative agricultural information to enhance poultry production in Nigeria.