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The mobile phone is one of the most accessible and transformative communication technologies globally and a staple in modern life. This study explores the impact of mobile phone usage among women on developing agricultural farm enterprises. Data were collected from 150 rural women involved in agricultural enterprise development. Descriptive statistics, chi-square test, multiple linear regression, step-wise regression, and path analysis were used for quantitative data analysis. The study found that a large proportion (70.0% and 64.0%) of the respondents in crop and fisheries enterprises had a medium extent of mobile phone usage. In contrast, more than half (56.0%) of the rural women in livestock enterprises fell under the low usage category. Factors such as reduced transportation costs, time-saving, easy contact with stakeholders, and frequent contact with fellow entrepreneurs were identified as significant influences on rural women’s mobile phone usage. Multiple regression analysis revealed that 14 selected characteristics explained 66.0% of the total variation. Among them, membership in an organization, distance of residence from the nearest market, training received on mobile phone usage, skill in using mobile phones, attitude towards mobile phones, amount of money spent, and perceived ease of use had a significant positive contribution. The attitude towards mobile phones had the highest contribution, explaining 36.0% of the variation. The path analysis showed that attitude towards mobile phones had a positive direct effect (0.30) on the extent of mobile phone usage. Perceived ease of use had the highest total indirect effect (0.413), primarily channeled positively through attitudes towards mobile phones.

The indispensability of information in agricultural development led to the setting up of Farmers’ Information and Advice Centres (FIACs) by the government of Bangladesh all over the country. The FIACs mainly provide information related to different agriculture sub-sectors like crop, fisheries and livestock with the overall aim of improving farmers’ livelihood. Hence, the effectiveness along with problems and suggestions for improvement of the FIACs’ services were examined in this study by surveying two FIACs of Dinajpur sadar upazila. The effectiveness of FIAC was determined on some selected farm (crop, fisheries and livestock) information based on three dimensions viz. information received, its understanding and application. Data were collected using interview schedule from a sample of 96 farmers selected by proportionate random sampling method. Descriptive statistics and Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (r) were used in the analysis. In terms of crop production sub-sector, all the respondents (100%) received, understood and applied ‘tomato seed production technology’ information, followed by ‘rice seed production and preservation technology’ (96.9%). Also, as for the livestock sub-sector, all the respondents (100%) received, understood and applied ‘beef fattening through UMS method’ information, followed by ‘livestock rearing’ (89.5%). Similarly, in case of fisheries sub-sector, all the respondents (100%) receive, understand and apply ‘Pangas (Pangasius pangasius) culture method’ information, followed by ‘preparation of an ideal pond’ (92.3%). In essence, the FIACs are quiet effective in their service delivery. Among the seven selected characteristics of the respondents, educational qualification, family income and perception on the service delivery efficiency of FIACs showed positive significant association with the effectiveness of the FIAC. However, the foremost problems mentioned by the respondents were FIACs staff inefficiency (83.33%) and lack of effective long term training program for both farmers and staff (73.84%). To address the identified problems, the respondents suggested recruitment of more staff (78.13%) and organizing more training programs for both staff and farmers (67.71 percent). Keywords: Effectiveness, Farmer, Information, Advice and centers

Mobile phones have emerged as the predominant technology in developing countries, especially within agricultural enterprises. This research investigates the influence of mobile phone utilization on the empowerment of female entrepreneurs in rural farming communities. Data were gathered from 150 female agricultural entrepreneurs in the rural regions of Bangladesh. The empowerment of these women was assessed across five dimensions: economic, social, technological, psychological, and political. The findings indicate that the composite empowerment index was notably higher at 61.92% post-mobile phone adoption, in contrast to 37.47% prior to its use. This underscores the positive impact of mobile phone utilization on the empowerment of rural female farmers. The research highlighted significant enhancements in all five empowerment dimensions, with these augmentations being statistically meaningful. The most pronounced improvement was observed in economic empowerment, while political empowerment witnessed the least growth. Furthermore, the shifts were profoundly correlated with the other three dimensions: social, technological, and psychological. The evidence establishes a link between mobile phone adoption by rural female farmers and their subsequent empowerment, with empowerment metrics showing a steady rise from the low-usage to the high-usage categories. Consequently, the correlation is positive. The results advocate that mobile phone utilization assists rural female farmers in augmenting their empowerment. It is thus recommended that policymakers and developmental organizations prioritize mobile technology as a tool to empower rural women in Bangladesh. This can be realized by enhancing accessibility, confronting socio-cultural barriers, and fostering digital literacy.