Are mAgriculture Applications Living Up to Expectations? A Critical Review of Empiricial Evidence and Methodologies

Mobile technologies are often seen to hold great potential to improve service delivery to farmers in developing countries. This paper takes a critical look at the empirical evidence to test this potential. Specifically, it reviews research into the role of mobile phone-enabled services in helping farmers adopt agricultural innovations. The analysis is structured around four types of services that are relevant in this regard: information and learning, financial services, access to inputs and access to output markets. The review highlights a dearth of empirical evidence in the existing literature. It also points to several methodological shortcomings and challenges in research on agricultural m-services and mobile phones in general.