Willingness of rural Agripreneurs to use social media platforms for Agri-businesses in Rivers State

Abstract

The need for effective means of communication gave rise to online platforms which can connect people through the internet all over the  world using Social Media tools. Therefore, the willingness of rural agripreneurs to use social media platforms for agri-business in Rivers  State was investigated. Simple random sampling was used to select a total of 197 rural agribusiness owners. Interview schedule was used  to elicit information on socio-economic characteristics of rural agripreneurs in Rivers State, rural agripreneurs understanding of  social media, and assessment of willingness of rural agribusiness owners to use social media platform for their enterprise. Data was analysed using frequency, percentage, mean and one way ANOVA. Results showed that with a mid-point mean score of 2.5 for all Likert- type scale used, majority of the rural agripreneurs had a mean score of 2.8 indicating positive response to use of social media. Perception  towards the use of social media for agribusiness indicated majority had low perception with a mean score of 2.3. While a  mean score of 2.9 was recorded for respondents willingness to use social media which is an indication of positive interest. No access to  smart phones (78.3%) is the major constraints to use of social media platforms for agribusiness in the study area. The study concluded  that agripreneurs in Rivers State are willing to use social media platforms for their businesses. Extension Agents need to train farmers on  use of social media platforms for agribusiness.