Role of ICTS in improving food accessibility of Iran’s rural households

Abstract

Access to desirable, sufficient, safe and nutritious food is one of the basic components of the development and health of a society. Information and communications technologies (ICTs) represent an important strategy that can be used in attaining food accessibility. The main purpose of this research, performed in 2007-2008, was to identify the effectiveness of ICTs in improving the food accessibility of Iran's rural households. A descriptive methodology was applied in this research, through questionnaires. The statistical population for the study included 253 agricultural extension experts; from this population, 170 persons were selected. The results showed that, according to the experts’ point of view, the situation of food accessibility in Iran's rural households was unsuitable, but that ICTs could play an important role in improving this situation. The results of stepwise regressions showed that decreasing costs to access
to information, improving the ability to acquire knowledge for individuals, considering clientele needs, clienteleoriented programs and content of old technologies were determined to account for 69% of the variance of food
accessibility of Iran's rural households.