Title : Adoption of digital tools among women arable crop farmers in accessing climate change adaptation information in Rivers State, Nigeria
Abstract:
Climate change remains a major global development challenge, posing significant threats to sustainable agricultural production, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa where farming is predominantly rain-fed. Digital technologies are increasingly promoted as tools that can enhance farmers’ adaptive capacity by providing timely and actionable climate information. However, gender disparities in digital ownership, literacy, and access continue to limit women farmers’ ability to fully benefit from these innovations. This study examined the adoption of digital tools among women arable crop farmers in Rivers State, Nigeria. Specifically, it described their socioeconomic characteristics, types of arable crops grown, digital tools adopted, frequency of accessing climate adaptation information digitally, and constraints affecting digital tool use. A multistage sampling technique used to select 200 respondents, and data were collected using a structured questionnaire and interview schedule. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, and means were used to analyze the data. Findings revealed that majority of the respondents were young (mean age = 39 years), married (40%), and had secondary education (48.5%). They operated small-scale farms (mean = 2.3 ha), earned an average monthly income of ?59,600.62, and had an average household size of six persons. While 85% owned digital devices, only 55.5% owned smartphones, and 40% were aware that climate adaptation information could be accessed digitally. Major crops cultivated included cassava (99%), fluted pumpkin (70.5%), and maize (60%). Basic digital tools such as mobile phones (mean = 2.37), Facebook (2.28), and WhatsApp (2.26) were the most frequently used, whereas data-intensive tools such weather apps (1.23), YouTube (1.37), and agricultural mobile applications (1.73) were rarely adopted. Digital access to climate adaptation information was low across most categories, with only crop diversification recording moderate access (55%). Key adaptation areas such as pest and disease management (6.5%), climate-smart inputs (22.5%), early warning alerts (25%), and improved seed varieties (27%) indicated very low digital access. Major constraints included high cost of digital devices (mean = 2.51), limited smartphone ownership (2.32), and difficulty understanding written information (2.32), among others. The study concludes that, although, digital device ownership was relatively high, effective adoption of digital tools for climate adaptation remains low due to economic, infrastructural, and knowledge-related barriers. Enhancing digital literacy, improving access to affordable smart technologies, and strengthening extension support are vital to building digital-enabled climate resilience among women farmers.
