Impact of an Agricultural Smartphone Application

Over the last years, the interest in agriculture has grown again among international organizations and within governmental agencies. Along with the new investments in agriculture, the use of information and communication technologies has become more popular in agricultural development and extension. Smartphones, combining user-friendly phone features with mobile internet, are increasingly influencing our lives and it is expected that the next wave of smartphone users will come from remote rural areas. Therefore smartphones and their applications are of high interest for the agricultural sector. So far there have been several studies in various countries trying to analyze the impact of mobile devices on agricultural development. However, no overall conclusive evidence has been presented yet. As a middle-income country, Thailand has a growing number of smartphone users, also within the agricultural community. Therefore, this study analyzes the impact of the smartphone application called “Farmer Info” on the livelihoods of Thai farmers and their agricultural practices in the area of Chiang Rai province.