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7.1. Access to internet services: a key point determining use of ICT knowledge-based platforms by women farmers in Kenya

7.1.1. Access to the internet in Kenya

A condition to enter into use with any of the nine knowledge-based platforms presented in previous chapters (Ch. 5 and Ch. 6), is access to the internet. Table 7.1 presents the internet access for the total Kenyan population, the rural population, and the farm population in rural Kenya per gender in 2009.

Table 7.1: Individual internet access per gender in Kenya in 2009.

Geographical area

Accessing the internet Not accessing the internet

Women Men Women Men

Total Kenya 738,491 (7%) 984,722 (10%) 10,226,458 (93%) 9,628,832 (90%) Rural Kenya 245,843 (2%) 333,389 (3%) 11,747,699 (98%) 11,295,704 (97%) Farmers in rural

Kenya 51,568 (1.5%) 57,979 (2.3%) 3,311,013 (98.5%) 2,444,784 (97.7%) Percentages in brackets represent the number of individuals who report using the internet out of the total women or men farmer population above or equal to 18 years of age Source: PHC special data processing.

The results show that 93% of women and 90% of men in Kenya declared not accessing the internet. The data reveal that there is a gap in internet access between the overall Kenyan population and individuals living in rural Kenya. Figures from Table 7.1 also show that women in general, but especially rural women farmers, are in a disadvantaged situation when it comes to accessing the internet and the services it may offer. 1.5% rural women farmers above or equal to 18 years of age reported accessing the internet in 2009 (i.e. 51,568 out of 3,362,581). For rural men farmers, 2.3% reported to have accessed the internet in 2009.

All in all, the 2009 census data show that accessibility to internet services in Kenya is limited.

This is especially the case in rural areas, where 2% of women and 3% of men accessed the internet. However, given that the last national census was conducted in 2009, there is evidence that the number of individuals accessing internet services in 2016 has increased. According to statistics from the International Telecommunication Union (2018a), the internet penetration rate was 45% in 2016, so internet use is increasing steadily. Several studies provide evidence of this trend (BMI 2015; GSMA 2015), including the complementary survey that I administered in two counties in 2016 (Machakos and Makueni counties) in Kenya Eastern Province.

In this regard, data on internet use were collected from a random sample (n=1,179) from two counties (Machakos and Makueni) that were coffee producing members of the Machakos Cooperative Union. The Cooperative Union has 60,000 members. Any farmer wanting to market their coffee has to join a cooperative that is a member of this Union. Coffee producers account for 24% of the farmers in these two counties. During the survey conducted in 2016, 21% of this subpopulation of coffee producers reported using the internet, which corresponds to a population of about 12,000 farmers. Extension services report that in this area coffee producers are more prone to use internet than are other types of farmers. However, even with the assumption that use of the internet by the other farmers equals zero, this result indicates an increase of the rate of internet use in the area. In 2009, for the whole area, only 4,522 individuals with a farming activity (coffee and non-coffee producers) reported using internet services in these two counties.

Even though the numbers increase, the most reliable data source (i.e. the census data) shows that an obstacle for entering into use with internet platforms could be the difficulty in accessing internet. There are however other means, via various types of ICT devices (i.e. the radio, the computer, the mobile phone, the television) to access platforms and the services that they offer.

This brings us to the following section.

7.1.2. Access to ICTs as possible ways enter into use with platforms

Some authors have analysed the potential of various ICT tools and services for supplying knowledge and services to farmers (Courtois & Subervie 2015; Van Campenhout 2017; Jensen 2010). Others have conducted literature reviews on this issue (Deichmann et al. 2016; Aker et al. 2016). In this regard, ICTs for knowledge supply comprehends a variety of devices. I show in Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 that the analysed platforms use communication modalities other than the internet to provide services to their farmers. These include SMS services via the mobile phone, and agricultural shows via radio and/or television. For example, the state-owned platform Nafis enables farmers to connect via its portal or through interactive voice response and SMS (via the iShamba platform). Occasionally, Nafis technical content is disseminated via radio programmes.

In this context, Hudson et al. (2017) report that female participation in most ICTs is lower than that of men in several African countries. Out of different ICT devices, rural women’s access to radio is the highest, although men are still more likely to access and use the device and related services. Gillwald et al. (2010), who carried out a study across 17 African countries, confirm that the average number of hours listened to the radio, per day, is higher for men compared to women.

Here, the 2009 census data show that a lower number of women above or equal to 18 years of age in rural Kenya, irrespective of economic activity, accessed services from (1) radio, (2) a mobile phone, (3) television, and (4) a computer (cf. Figure 7.1). It is especially the case for women farmers who report not accessing computer services (74% women to 68% men). Here, Figure 7.1 reports on the number and proportion of individuals in rural Kenya accessing any of these ICT devices per four economic activities accounting for 82% of the total rural working population (i.e. 10,453,514 out of 12,777,884). It is important to mention that this Figure reports on the individuals who declare accessing services from these ICT devices or not, and who report to have respective device at home. This explains why the number of individuals differ per ICT devices in Figure 7.1. These individuals were working: as a homemaker, at the family agricultural holding, with a family business or for pay.

Figure 7.1: Number of females and males above or equal to 18 years of age in rural Kenya in 2009 accessing ICT services from the radio, the mobile phone, the television and the computer in the past month, residing in a household that have the respective devices (nfemales=6,696,493;

nmales=6,081,391). (Source: PHC special data processing).

0

Females Males Females Males Females Males Females Males Homemaker Agricultural holding Family business Work for pay Access to computer services per gender and economic activity, individuals

above of equal to 18 years of age, rural Kenya

Not accessing computer services Accessing computer services 0

Females Males Females Males Females Males Females Males Homemaker Agricultural holding Family business Work for pay Access to television services per gender and economic activity, individuals

above of equal to 18 years of age, rural Kenya

Not accessing TV services Accessing TV services

0

Females Males Females Males Females Males Females Males Homemaker Agricultural holding Family business Work for pay Access to mobile phone services per gender and economic activity, individuals

above of equal to 18 years of age, rural Kenya

Not accessing mobile services Accessing mobile services 0

Females Males Females Males Females Males Females Males Homemaker Agricultural holding Family business Work for pay Access to radio services per gender and economic activity, individuals above of

equal to 18 years of age, rural Kenya

Not accessing radio services Accessing radio services 93%

There is nonetheless one exception: a higher proportion of women report accessing services from the computer in the economic activity ‘work for pay’ (60% of females’ state using computer services compared to 59% males in this category), even though a larger number of men work for pay. This may mean that when women need to access a service (e.g. to carry out a work-related task), they may be more prone to using such devices compared to men.

Most women report working at the family agricultural holding. Yet a lower proportion of female farmers report accessing services from any of the ICT devices, compared to other economic activities. It follows that female farmers are the most disadvantaged socio-economic group.

Part of the literature highlights however that to get a real understanding of this digital gender divide (Alozie & Akpan-Obong 2017; Mumporeze & Prieler 2017), and how ICT platforms can avoid becoming a vector of exclusion (Rodriguez et al. 2015), one must analyse the reported levels of internet use with respect to different socio-economic factors.