2026 Vol-6 Issue-2 | ADOPTION AND EFFECTIVE UTILIZATION OF DIGITAL TOOLS FOR AGRICULTURAL INFORMATION SOURCING AMONG FARMERS IN KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA

This study examined farmers' adoption of digital tools for sourcing agricultural information in Kaduna State, Nigeria. It described farmers' socio-economic characteristics, assessed their effective use of digital tools, examined their perceptions, identified utilization constraints, and analysed the relationship between socio-economic characteristics and effective use of digital technologies. A multi-stage random sampling technique was employed. Kaduna North Agricultural Zone was purposively selected, followed by random selection of Zaria and Sabon-Gari Local Government Areas and four communities. Of the 240 farmers sampled, 228 valid responses (95%) were analysed. Data were collected using questionnaires and interview schedules and analysed with descriptive statistics, a Likert scale, and Spearman's Rank Correlation. Results showed that farming was male-dominated (68.42%), with most respondents married (64.47%) and economically active (mean age = 41.10 years). Most had at least a secondary education, small-scale farms (mean = 3.59 ha), and 76.75% belonged to cooperatives. Farmers demonstrated a moderate level of effective digital tool use, while 45.61% had a high perception of digital tools for agricultural information sourcing. Major constraints were the high cost of digital tools (94.74%), maintenance cost (82.89%), lack of digital skills (82.02%), poor internet access (76.32%), inadequate infrastructure (72.81%), and insufficient training (62.28%). Spearman's correlation revealed significant relationships between effective digital tool use and age (r = 0.746), education (r = 0.543), farming experience (r = 0.632), farm size (r = 0.533), and farming status (r = 0.452), leading to rejection of the null hypothesis. It recommends improved affordability, digital literacy training, rural infrastructure development, and farmer-friendly technologies to enhance effective utilization.