Usage of the mobile phone on agricultural farm enterprise development by women in rural Bangladesh

Abstract

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.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

Keywords:

• Agricultural enterprise
• ICT adoption
• rural farm
• technology adoption
• women entrepreneur

REVIEWING EDITOR:

• Dr. Guangchao Charles Feng, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong

SUBJECTS:

• ICT
• Interpersonal Communication
• Group Communication

Introduction

The implementation of services based on Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) is crucial to accomplishing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 (Winther et al., 2018). However, ICTs provide great opportunities for people’s sustainable economic progress. Mobile technology, the internet, and social media have been claimed to be adopted more rapidly than other ICTs (Summers et al., 2020). Mobile technology, however, is the technology utilized for cellular communication. It is currently one of the most revolutionary technologies globally. In addition, mobile gadgets are increasingly an integral part of modern life (Kassanuk & Phasinam, 2022). People who lack access to mobile devices are unable of participating in the full range of economic and social activities in the modern world. Mobile has therefore become an essential entry point to the digital economy (Mivehchi, 2019). Local women’s participation in globalization, modernization, and neoliberal capitalism, as seen by the expansion of garment factories, microcredit initiatives, labor migration, and modern farming, is facilitated by mobile phones (Misaki et al., 2018). With the remarkable growth of mobile communication technology in recent years, there is evidence that the widespread and easy availability of mobile phones in agricultural operations expands professional communication among the communities (Alant & Bakare, 2021). As a result, rural women are establishing micro and small businesses such as dairy farming, poultry farming, petty business, handicrafts, and daily hawking (Hossain & Samad, 2021). ‘Micro-enterprises’ may be characterized as tiny businesses that are frequently unregistered, operate ‘informally,’ and are typically owned and operated by the poor. Microbusinesses may also be family-run, with family members and relatives assisting with operations. Small business growth can become a feasible means for rural people to achieve sustainable lives (Rezaei-Moghaddam et al., 2019).

In rural Bangladesh, women commonly engage in various entrepreneurial endeavors, like farming, petty businesses, rickshaw rental, clothing business, and others (Kabir et al., 2012). In Bangladesh’s agrarian and primarily subsistence-based economy, poultry, dairy, nursery, rice husking, fishery, and handicraft industries play a key role in providing healthy food and producing revenue and employment (Rahman et al., 2021). Without women’s growth, there can be no real development. It is anticipated that rural women’s engagement in various small entrepreneurial activities would affect their personal, social, and economic life by expanding their access to and control over available resources. In addition to empowering women considerably, the contribution of women to household earnings should pave the way for their participation in household decision-making (Hossain & Samad, 2021). Consequently, enterprise development and empowerment are compatible. In reality, communication is essential for the microentrepreneur to connect with suppliers, consumers, merchants, and in certain instances, intermediaries (Chatterjee et al., 2020). In addition to being essential for negotiating prices, terms of payment, obtaining commodity stocks, and coordinating deliveries, precise and prompt communication is also necessary (Donner, 2007). Microentrepreneurs must utilize intermediaries or middlemen in order to sell their agricultural products or handicrafts (Shafi et al., 2019). In the context of Bangladesh, an example of a common situation would be a rice merchant who needs to obtain the most recent pricing or kind of rice but must rely mostly on intermediaries for this information (Kabir et al., 2012). This may be the most effective method of gaining access to information under the current circumstances. In this case, mobile phones played a vital role in empowering rural women to develop micro-enterprises and acted as a business-enabling tool (Summers et al., 2020). It also served as a stimulus for small businesses’ productivity, networking, and information collecting. The use of the mobile phone as a productive instrument to complete an order or bid for a stock as well as compressing time and distance, hence reducing the number of in-person meetings required to close a deal (Samuel, 2018). However, micro-entrepreneurs, such as fisherman or female farmers, might utilize their cell phone as a ‘collector and disseminator’ of information by checking pricing, locating suppliers, or bidding on consumers. In addition, the mobile phone functions as a tool for creating networking possibilities; a fortuitous contact or conversation over the cell phone might lead to a new business opportunity (Rajkhowa & Qaim, 2022). Regardless, mobile phones resemble an engine that propels the socioeconomic position of the owner possessing a mobile phone liberates the small company owner’s economic border, so he or she may now communicate with other business partners or clients (Mwalukasa et al., 2018). In developing nations like Bangladesh, mobile phones have become the most common kind of technology, particularly in the context of agricultural enterprises (M. S. Rahman et al., 2023). The mobile phone plays a significant role in the completion of all agricultural enterprise development-related duties (Beuermann et al., 2012). It also eliminates the difficulty of completing mobile financial transactions and other complicated phenomena, which encourages people to engage in the entire spectrum of agricultural operations (Duncombe, 2016). Therefore, particular support for women involved in agricultural enterprises would unquestionably provide a powerful precedent for empowerment. Even though the literature suggests that women entrepreneurs have acquired mobile phone technology, relatively few research have studied if and how rural women use mobile phone technology to improve agricultural enterprises for female empowerment.

Numerous studies have highlighted the impact of ICT on entrepreneurship (Rahman, 2016; Okello et al., 2020; Fan et al., 2021), empowerment (Gitahi, 2017; Summers et al., 2020; Khan et al., 2020), mobile phone usage for entrepreneurship (Crittenden et al., 2019; Summers et al., 2020; Kapinga et al., 2019), and women empowerment (Winther et al., 2018; Pardhasaradhi & Rao, 2014; Aziz et al., 2020). However, it is still unclear how mobile phone usage might contribute to the farm development of rural women entrepreneurs. Given the significance of women’s empowerment as entrepreneurs, particularly in rural Bangladesh, it is vital to examine the topic in order to inform policy choices.

Specifically, the present study explores a better understanding of the usage of mobile phone features like making calls, receive a call, SMS services, Facebook, and messengers for seeking information due to farm enterprise needs, development and advancement of farm enterprises e.g., crop, livestock, and fisheries. It will give rural women farm owners insights on how best to develop their farm enterprises at a reduced cost, effort, and time. Particularly, the result of the study may be helpful to the policy makers and planners of the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh like Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology in formulating plans and strategies for enhancing the effective usage of mobile phone in their farm enterprises for their economic improvement and social development to achieve SDGs successfully. Therefore, this study investigates the impact of mobile phone usage on the development of farm of rural women entrepreneurs.

Theoretical framework of the study

Uses and gratifications theory

Uses and gratification is a valuable framework through which women farmers’ use of mobile phone as a communication practice can be better understood. As an approach this theory helps in understanding how and why people actively seek out specific source of information (media) to satisfy their specific needs. Uses and gratification theory was ‘represents an attempt to explain something of the way in which individuals use communications, among other resources in their environment, to satisfy their needs’ (Katz et al., 1973).

Uses and gratifications theory now drives most of the research to understand mobile phone use inside and outside of agricultural contexts. In agricultural contexts, uses and gratification can be applied to understand how and why women farmers may or may not utilize mobile phone (social media as well) for support on their farms (Phillips, 2018). With the goal of increasing understanding of women entrepreneurs’ mobile phone use and communication practices, this study examined how women entrepreneurs in the Bangladesh use mobile phone to maintain resilience in both their identities as an enterprise owner and the viability of their farm enterprises. Mobile phone functionalities like calling, texting, Facebook messaging and messenger where Facebook is an online social networking site where individuals, group of women, enterprise owners can create on online profile through which they share photos, thoughts, or respond to other’s photos or comments. Specifically, participants reported using social media to engage with customers, exchange information, and provide emotional connection. Farmers’ satisfaction with these forms of communication on different social media platforms varied. The use of mobile phones by women owning enterprise is generated by the fact they want to seek various relevant agricultural updated information, reach their customers and peers, and make financial transactions. So, to them the mobile phone services meet their economic need, save their farm products from climatic hazards through early preparedness by advance weather forecast information and hence, gratify them.

Application of the mobile phone to uses and gratification theory

Mobile phone to reach customer

Rural women entrepreneurs in the study consistently praised the ability of mobile phone to interact with and make connections to customers. Merina, a women entrepreneur from northern part says mobile phone is an important component of chili trading. She uses her mobile phone for communicating with customers. All she did in a very convenient way that she takes a snapshot of red colored chili with mobile phone and sends it to potential customers. Consequently, she saves her time without going to bazaar to convince the customers to sell her maize and other agricultural produces. Such a way she also receives the payment of her products through bKash and manages her enterprise making several deals and strategies comfortably and instantly. Merina also shared her knowledge with her neighbors, friends, and relatives. When she was gaining better in position in her locality, her neighbors asked for advice about agricultural techniques and the secrets of her betterment. By using Facebook, she discloses her secrecy and would like to post pictures of problems with a description of their solutions. Sometimes, instead of selling her excessive vegetables and fish, she gave these to the neighbors so that they could feed their families.

Mobile phone for information seeking

On the other hand, Kolpona another entrepreneur in the northern part told after her marriage she was dependent on her family. But after involving with the project and using mobile phone she learnt to use disaster resilient and disease resistant seeds as well as how to properly space the maize seedling. By this way, she got such kind of necessary crop production related information through her mobile phone. Now, Saleha was able to buy land to cultivate and build her own house, ensuring her financial security. From the Merina and Kolpona’s experience of using mobile phone helps them to reach customer, easy financial transaction, and seeking agricultural information which gratify them. Whereas, in southern part, Tomalika, a young women entrepreneur says, she uses her phone to communicate with the agricultural and fisheries officers to learn rice, fish, crab, and shrimp growing techniques and sharing everything she knows so that her community may benefit. She would like to continue co-operating her community with knowledge and connections. Moreover, she shares everything with her community what she learns, including the SMSs she receives from different concerned officials like agricultural and fisheries. However, she encourages community members to attend agricultural trainings organized by the upazila Parishad. She seeks solutions to various problems by posting pictures of her neighbour’s ailing plants and asking for advice from the local agricultural officers proactively. She shows an empathetic behavior to helps her community.

Theoretical implications

Three potential types of uses and gratifications of mobile phone use are content gratification, process gratification, and social gratification. The implication of the types of uses and gratification theory of mobile phone use is presented below:

The analysis of the interviewed information both benefits from and contributes to Uses and Gratification theory. Consistent with the theory, this study demonstrated that women farmers are active agents in their media consumption and make conscious decisions based on their own personal and business needs (Katz et al., 1973; Severin, 1997). Content, social, and process gratification, the three categories put forth by Stafford et al., (2004), were present and offer novel ways of understanding such mobile phone preferences in the context of women farmers. Lastly, in addition to pursuing mobile phone in ways they found most useful to them, this study’s analysis demonstrates that women farmers felt most discouraged by mobile phone when it perceived to them to be not useful due to finishing of airtime and data packages, costly also, network limitation and challenges of charging mobile phone where electricity is not available yet. Content gratification leads most of the women entrepreneurs’ motivation towards mobile phone use; they experienced benefits from using it for efficient access to relevant necessary information regarding farming and farm enterprises. Women entrepreneurs mostly use different apps in their mobile phone like Krishoker janala, PROTIC Krishi Seba, Vutta app, ProAS, Krishoker Digital Thikana, Goru cagol palon bishoyok app, Livestock Diary and Mach chash bebosthapona for their farm enterprise purposes. They discussed gathering information related to farm issues such as disease, pests, and weather information, as well as marketing strategies. They also make use of children friendly apps like Hatekhori (children learning through playing app), Facebook, imo etc.

Social gratification was also recognized the women entrepreneurs in her locality as prestigious one due to having mobile phone. The other women of that community identified her as a role model woman who gives instant suggestions to solve of their problems. Women entrepreneurs perceived that their farm enterprises become benefitted through continuous connections and better relationship with their customers and buyers through using mobile phone. Another form of social gratification is that emerged from the fellow feelings, sharing communality as a women entrepreneur. The women also disseminate the important messages and information which she received through mobile sms, to continue helping their community with knowledge and connections. They continuously encourage the community members to attend agricultural training by the upazila parishad. Sometimes they proactively seek solution to various problems by posting pictures in Facebook of their neighbors’ ailing plants with tagging upazila agriculture office Facebook page and asking for advice from the local agricultural officers. The third gratification, process gratification appeared in exceptional ways that further confuses the uses and gratification theory. The use of mobile phone for entertainment purpose was little bit discussed by the respondents in the study. This outcome is not unexpected considering that farm enterprise related works, especially when connected with marketing and sales attempts, require massive time and continuous attention because farming is a cyclical process which starting from production and ending with marketing. Thus, women entrepreneur pursues mobile phone usage in the ways that feel most useful to them for fulfilling their needs, which excludes scanning and reading different types of mobile phone applications for the refreshment. However, the storytelling components of mobile phone give that self-identity as a women farm entrepreneur to reach customer, information seeking regarding farming, community responsibility, and advance disaster preparedness. In Bangladesh rural perspective, the women establish themselves as a farm entrepreneur through versatile use of mobile phone is an influential finding which augment conceptualization the potential types like process gratification.

Conceptual framework of the study

A conceptual framework is a structure which the researcher believes can best explain the natural progression of the phenomenon to be studied (Camp, 2001). It is linked with the concepts, empirical research and important theories used in promoting and systemizing the knowledge espoused by the researcher (Peshkin, 19943). It is the researcher’s explanation of how the research problem would be explored. The conceptual framework presents an integrated way of looking at a problem under study (Liehr & Smith, 1999). In a statistical perspective, the conceptual framework describes the relationship between the main concepts of a study.

As such, a conceptual framework is a conception model of what researchers’ plans to study. The proposed conceptual framework (Figure 1) of the study postulates that rural women various usage of mobile phone and selected characteristics of the rural farm women. The proposed study seeks to establish the relationship between selected characteristics of the rural women entrepreneurs, various usage of mobile phone. When rural women use mobile phone services in their agricultural farming (crop, livestock and fisheries), they will be able to increase their productions, more market exposure and reach to these markets, get fair prices, do business in cooperative basis in their community, get more profits. Various mobile phone features like received phone call, calling others, sending SMS, receiving SMS, messenger and Facebook have been used by the rural farm women in their farm enterprise activities along with their personal and family usage. Therefore, these types of usage of mobile phone can empower rural women by developing their farm enterprises. The development of the farm enterprises in detail is not considered under this study.

Figure 1. Conceptual framework of the study.

Methodology

Locale of the study

The study was done in two sites, Dimla of Nilphamari and Shyamnagar of Shatkhira districts, which were chosen because rural farm women in the targeted regions had become more active mobile phone users. Its associated services and mobile phone ownership have increased over time, mainly due to the mobile phone intervention of non-governmental organizations. The majority of inhabitants in Nilphamari are agricultural workers, day laborers, farmers, and small business owners. The study area is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. The study areas in Bangladesh.

Design, population and sampling

To investigate the phenomenon, the study followed a triangulation mixed research design. A list of the total population was compiled in collaboration with local government authorities. This sample was picked using the field approach proposed by Thakur and Chander (2018). About agricultural, livestock, and fisheries operations, the total number of rural farm women entrepreneurs who use mobile phones to communicate with various stakeholders regarding farm enterprise-related information was 335, 295, and 296. As the study’s sample, fifty (50) rural farm women from each enterprises, representing roughly 15, 17, and 17% of the total rural farm women were selected using disproportionate stratified random sampling technique making a total 150 rural farm women which formed the study’s sample. Due to the limited resources such as time, budget as well as considering the homogeneity of the traits of the population the present sample size is selected.

Measuring of variables

The usage of the mobile phone

The usage of the mobile phone was measured based on number of the received phone call and frequency of receiving, phone calling trend and frequency of calling, text usage trend and frequency of sending SMS, Facebook using trend and frequency of face booking, messenger using trend and frequency of messaging and overall usage of mobile phone.

The impact of mobile phone usage

The impact of mobile phone usage is measured by assessing the perceived ease of use, attitude towards mobile phone, training received on mobile phone, membership in an organization, amount of money spent, and distance of residence from the nearest market of rural women farm entrepreneur.

The level of ease of use of a mobile phone to enhance the farm enterprise activities was measured by a 4-point scale as strongly agree, moderately agree, slightly agree, and disagree, and the score was assigned as 4, 3, 2, and 1, respectively. Attitude is measured by Likert scale as strongly agree, agree, no opinion, disagree, and strongly disagree, and weight was assigned 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1, respectively. The score of attitude towards mobile phone range for an individual item was 1–5 with a total score ranging from 9–45 for all items. For training received, the rural women entrepreneurs were asked to indicate whether they have ever received training or not. If they have received training, they subsequently indicate the number of training along with subject, duration, and provider organizations. The membership in the organization of the respondents was measured based on two-dimension; nature of involvement and number of organizations in which the respondents were involved. The following formula was applied in measuring membership in the organization of the respondent: $$\text{MO\hspace{0.17em}=\hspace{0.17em}}{P}_n\times N_i{\text{+P}}_m\times \hspace{0.17em}{N}_i\text{+\hspace{0.17em}}{P}_{\text{em}}\times \hspace{0.17em}{N}_i\text{+\hspace{0.17em}}{P}_{\text{ce}}\times \hspace{0.17em}{N}_i,$$ where

MO = Membership in an Organization; P_n= No participation; P_m = Member = 1; P_em = Executive member = 2; P_ce = Chief executive= 3 and N_i = Number of organization(s) (i = 1, 2, 3,………n).

Amount of money spent by the women on mobile phones for calling and internet browsing due to the reason of information regarding farm enterprise purposes per day. It was measured in taka. Distance of residence from the nearest market referred to the distance a woman walks on foot or using a vehicle like a motorcycle, van, or auto bike from home to the nearest town. Rural women entrepreneurs were classified into close to town and far away from the nearest town. It was measured in a kilometer.

Data collection and analysis

For quantitative data, face-to-face interviews using a professionally crafted, objective-driven, and pre-tested structured questionnaire was used. Verbal consent of each respondent was taken before face-to-face interview. Rapid Rural Appraisal methods such as Focus Group Discussion (FGD) were employed in both study locations to collect qualitative data. Thus, data collected through quantitative and qualitative tools complement each other though it is a triangulation mixed research that produced more realistic and stronger findings. With the assistance of the Upazila level Agriculture, Fisheries and Livestock Officer, Agricultural Extension Officers, and NGO members, the researcher gathered data. The researchers utilized stepwise regression modeling to determine the importance of the primary variables, followed by path coefficient analysis to gain insight into the direct and indirect impacts of the selected independent variables. Path analysis was performed by incorporating the significant variables identified through the stepwise multiple regression analysis.

Ethical approval

The ethical committee of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University approved this study. Besides, all ethical guidelines were followed during the research process. This study also took a prior verbal approval of each respondent before face-to-face interview.

Results

Usage of the mobile phone by the rural farm women entrepreneur

Number of the received phone call and frequency of receiving

To assess the number of received calls, respondents were requested to report on frequency of call they got. Table 1 elucidates the number and percentage of rural farm women who received phone call in all three crops, livestock, and fisheries enterprises. Mobile phone is an essential communication tool in the rural areas especially for the women engaged in farming and farm enterprise purpose. In the study area, it is found that there is no rural farm women of the three enterprises who did not received any phone call per day. All of them received phone call at least 1–3 times in a day which fall in rarely used category. Regarding frequency of received phone call a majority (52.0% and 64.0%) of the respondents in crop and fisheries enterprise received phone calls 4 to 6 times per day on different issues related to agriculture and social communication purpose. While in livestock enterprise, a very large majority (86.0%) of the rural farm women received phone calls 1 to 3 times per day.

Table 1. Rural women entrepreneurs’ received a phone call and calling (n = 150).

Mobile phone features	Responses	Agricultural enterprises
		Crop (n = 50)		Livestock (n = 50)		Fisheries (n = 50)
		N	%	N	%	N	%
Received phone call during last season	No use (0)	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0
	Rarely use (1 to 3 times)	19	38.0	43	86.0	14	28.0
	Sometimes use (4–6 times)	26	52.0	7	14.0	32	64.0
	Always use (≥7 times)	5	10.0	0	0.0	4	8.0
Calling others during last season	No use (0)	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0
	Rarely use (1 to 3 times)	13	26.0	10	20.0	6	12.0
	Sometimes use (4–6 times)	29	58.0	35	70.0	35	70.0
	Always use (≥7 times)	8	16.0	5	10.0	9	18.0

Note. N = number and % = percentage.

The phone calling trend and frequency of calling

The phone calling trend found positive. Because, none of them found who didn’t using mobile phone at least one time to more than seven times per day for their social and farm enterprise related purpose.

From the findings, it was observed that the majority (58.0, 70.0, and 70.0%) of the rural women in the crop, livestock, and fisheries farm make a call at least 4–6 times per day. Calling is the basic and prime important option of a mobile phone. People especially rural women who own a mobile phone operate this option i.e. calling and receiving calls regularly. For calling someone rural, farm women always keep in mind that it calls tariff is a factor for performing this option in a certain period. Especially in Bangladesh, different mobile phone operator offer voice minute packages for a duration like 3, 7, 15 days or a monthly packages. In the study areas, rural women also used such kind of voice packages depends upon their economic affordability and necessity for the farming and social purposes (Pahuja, 2019).

However, calling trend showed that per day they used their mobile phone for calling purpose 4–6 times, which is not less as a woman of the remote areas. In addition, the calling trend found that a very large majority (80.0 and 88.0%) of livestock and fisheries farm women used their mobile phone sometimes to always categories. While more than four-fifths (84.0%) of the crop farm women calling in a category of rarely to sometimes.

Respondents text usage trend and frequency of sending SMS

The use of SMS for farming and social purpose in the study areas is not preferred. Study finding presented in Table 2 illustrated the number and %age of rural farm women in three enterprises about sending and receiving Short Message Services (SMS) through the default SMS app.

Table 2. Rural women entrepreneurs’ text usage trend (n = 150).

Mobile phone features	Responses	Agricultural enterprises
		Crop (n = 50)		Livestock (n = 50)		Fisheries (n = 50)
		N	%	N	%	N	%
Sending SMS during last season	No use (0)	38	76.0	33	66.0	41	82.0
	Rarely use (1 to 3 times)	7	14.0	14	28.0	8	16.0
	Sometimes use (4–6 times)	5	10.0	3	6.0	1	2.0
	Always use (≥7 times)	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0
Receiving SMS during last season	No use (0)	6	12.0	15	30.0	0	0.0
	Rarely use (1 to 3 times)	14	28.0	29	58.0	9	18.0
	Sometimes use (4–6 times)	20	40.0	6	12.0	39	78.0
	Always use (≥7 times)	10	20.0	0	0.0	2	4.0

Note. N = Number and % = Percentage.

Findings indicate that majority (76.0, 66.0, 82.0%) of the rural farm women did not use SMS option for sending purpose. While few of them (14.0, 28.0 and 16.0%) rarely sending SMS of the three enterprises on the other hand, some progressive and trained animator type farm women (10.0, 6.0 and 2.0%) send SMS sometimes for farm enterprise and social purpose. In general in case of all farm enterprises, rural women were not interested in using mobile phone SMS service. The restricted space allotted for text messages makes it challenging to convey a clear message, and therefore, utilizing SMS to communicate inadequately expresses one’s thoughts and ideas (Rezaei-Moghaddam et al., 2019). Due to for these reasons in all farm enterprises, the SMS sending trend fell under no use to rarely use category.

Respondents text usage trend and frequency of receiving SMS

As like the receiving phone call in a mobile phone receiving SMS is also a default option. Different mobile phone operators send different types of automatic promotional SMS via this default app. Majority (40.0 and 78.0%) of the crop and fisheries farm women received various SMS sometimes, i.e. 4–6 times per day. On the other hand, 58.0% of the livestock farm women received SMS 1–3 times per day while 30.0% of the farm women did not received any SMS in a day. The reason might be due to the crop and fisheries farm women had more number of Smartphone compare to livestock farm women. Due to the char land and coastal women involve in various organization compare to livestock farm women so, they received more SMS than livestock farm women. This might be due to that though receiving SMS is an automated option but there is a need for technical skills to open up for reading and understanding the message (Kabbiri et al., 2018).

Facebook using trend and frequency of face booking

Farm women received the advantages of ICT-based project whose intervention was smart mobile phone in their locality compare to livestock farm women, although livestock farm women were using smart mobile phone in their household. In fact, the Facebook can also run in java supported featured phone thus, in the study area fisheries, crop and livestock farm women household having total 131, 109 and 90 feature and smart mobile phone (Table 3). Though all the three enterprises farm women got mobile phone based training especially the crop and fisheries farm women opening their Facebook account with the help of the local NGOs and ICT-based skilled personnel (Nord et al., 2016).

Table 3. Rural farm women messaging through Facebook and messenger (n = 150).

Mobile phone features	Responses	Agricultural enterprises
		Crop (n = 50)		Livestock (n = 50)		Fisheries (n = 50)
		N	%	N	%	N	%
Seeing and seeking information in Facebook during last season	No use (0)	6	12.0	19	38.0	5	10.0
	Rarely use (1 to 3 times)	4	8.0	3	6.0	5	10.0
	Sometimes use (4–6 times)	4	8.0	18	36.0	7	14.0
	Always use (≥7 times)	36	72.0	10	20.0	33	66.0
Messaging via messenger during last season	No use (0)	4	8.0	24	48.0	3	6.0
	Rarely use (1 to 3 times)	5	10.0	5	10.0	9	18.0
	Sometimes use (4–-6 times)	15	30.0	10	20.0	10	20.0
	Always use (≥7 times)	26	52.0	11	22.0	28	56.0

Note. N = Number and % = percentage.

Findings explored that a significant proportion (72.0 and 66.0%) of the rural women in crop and fisheries enterprises usage Facebook always (≥7 times per day) for posting, sharing, seeing, seeking information for agricultural and social purpose while only a few (12.0 and 10.0%) of the rural women did not use Facebook. The reason might be due to the charge of data connection and unexpected abuse types content observed in the posts demotivated for using Facebook still they have an account (Thar et al., 2021).

Respondents messenger using trend and frequency of messaging

In this case using messenger or other video calling apps crop farm women now keep in touch with their husband by showing their beloved children and other family members maintaining the social relation of their family (Adkins & Moulaison Sandy, 2020). In addition, the women who have an account in messenger support the other women whose husbands were staying outside the community by playing social responsibility to their community. In the coastal area it was found that most of the respondent’s relatives live in neighboring border country (India) with whom they contact easily and conveniently by using messenger which bridging the social relationship of the two country’s people. However, just over half (52.0%) of the livestock rural farm women using messenger rarely to always category while just under half (48.0%) of them didn’t use. The livestock farm women also opined that they were also using the messenger video calling option and sending messages instead of default SMS app for communicating with their husband and relatives for social and entrepreneurial purpose.

Overall usage of mobile phone

The use of mobile phone technology as a tool of intervention is becoming increasingly popular. Along with the other types of mobile phones like ordinary and feature phones, the reach of smartphones even in rural areas extended the services beyond simple voice or text messages. The observed overall usage score of the mobile phone by the rural farm women in all three crops, livestock, and fisheries enterprises fell within 3 to 16 against the possible range of 0-18. Based on the possible score of the usage of the mobile phone, rural farm women were categorized into low, medium and high usage and Table 4 illustrates the distribution of rural women entrepreneurs as follow.

Table 4. Distribution of the rural women entrepreneur on overall usage of mobile phone.

Categories (Score)	Crop enterprise (n = 50)		Livestock enterprise (n = 50)		Fisheries enterprise (n = 50)
	N	%	N	%	N	%
Low usage (up to 6)	9	18.0	28	56.0	11	22.0
Medium usage (7–12)	35	70.0	18	36.0	32	64.0
High usage (>12)	6	12.0	4	8.0	7	14.0
Total=	50	100.0	50	100	50	100.0
Range	4 to 15		3 to 16		5 to 16
Mean	9.24		6.94		9.20

Note. N = Number of rural farm women, % = percentage.

Findings in Table 4 indicated that a large significant proportion (70.0 and 64.0%) of the respondents in crop and fisheries enterprises having a medium extent of usage of mobile phones various features and other options. In crop and fisheries farm enterprise, the number of mobile phone is higher in comparison with livestock enterprise and the number of smart phone is also higher in these two enterprises. In line with the present findings, Pudke et al. (2018) revealed that the majority (60.84%) of the respondents having a medium extent of use of mobile phone services.

Contribution of factors on the extent of usage of mobile phone

Perceived ease of use

The first statement was asked about the extent of ease of operating mobile phone. ‘To operate mobile phone would be easy for me’ is very much a decisive perception statement for influencing the usage of mobile phones in farming enterprises (crop, livestock, and fisheries). Results given in Table 5 shown that almost half (46.0%) of the rural women entrepreneurs were strongly agreed with that statement followed by 28.7% were moderately agreed, 14.0% were slightly agreed and only 11.3% have disagreed. The Chi-square value (45.73**) indicates a very high significant difference among the opinions of the respondents (Table 5).

Table 5. Response of rural women entrepreneurs on perception on the ease of use of mobile phone.

Statements	Extent of response								Chi-square value
	SA		MA		SA		D
	F	%	F	%	F	%	F	%
To operate mobile phone would be easy for me	69	46.0	43	28.7	21	14.0	17	11.3	45.73**
What I want to do, would find it easy to get the system to do	16	10.7	69	46.0	42	28.0	23	15.3	44.93**
My interaction with the system would be clear and understandable	8	5.3	56	37.3	55	36.7	31	20.7	41.63**
Would find the system to be flexible to interact with users	13	8.7	54	36.0	56	37.3	27	18.0	35.33**
It would be easy for me to become skillful at using the system	26	17.4	47	31.3	47	31.3	30	20.0	9.84*

Note. NS: non-significant; F: frequency; SA: strongly agree; MA: moderately agree; SA: Slightly Agree. D: Disagree. **significant at 1% level; *significant at 5% level.

The next statement about ‘What I want to do, would find it easy to get the system to do’ is identified as another very important perceptual statement for influencing the use of the mobile phone. Findings revealed that the highest proportions (46.0%) of the respondents were moderately agreed whereas 28.0% slightly agreed, 10.7% strongly agreed and 15.3% disagreed with the statement (Table 5). The Chi-square value (44.93**) indicates a very high significant difference among the opinions of the respondents. Further, it was revealed that from third statement about perceived ease of use that their interaction with mobile phone was clear is identified as another important perception of the rural farm women. The majority (37.3%) of the farm women moderately agreed with the statement followed by 36.7% slightly agreed, 5.3% strongly agreed and only 20.7% disagreed. The computed Chi-square value (41.63**) indicates a significant difference among the opinions of the respondents.

The fourth statement ‘Would find the system to be flexible to interact with users’ is one of the important perceptual statements for influencing the usage of mobile phones. The majority (37.3%) of the respondents slightly agreed with the statement system flexibility is needed for enhancing the usage of the mobile phone followed by 36.0% moderately agreed, 8.7% strongly agreed and 18.0% disagreed. The computed Chi-square value (35.33**) indicates a significant difference among the opinions of the respondents.

Attitude towards mobile phone

Rural women’s, attitude towards mobile phone is a considering issue of this research for promoting small scale rural enterprise development in the study areas (Reddy et al., 2021). The distribution of rural women entrepreneurs according to their attitude towards mobile phone scores as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Distribution of the rural women entrepreneur according to their attitude towards mobile phone.

From the Figure 3, it is revealed that in the char land of northern part study area very large majority (82.0%) of the crop farm women had highly favorable attitude while in coastal region of southern study area just over a half (52.0%) had highly favorable attitude towards mobile phone. Furthermore, in case of livestock farm women more than a half (58.0%) had favorable attitude towards mobile phone. This might be due to that their locality is situated in the plain land where they did not faces livelihood related challenges and difficulties frequently as like as char land and coastal areas women. The distance of the market and other facilities comparatively nearest/closest to the community than the char land and coastal areas so, their attitude towards mobile phone also favorable for different information seeking, networking and communication purpose.

Though mobile phone is an important communication tool, some of the rural farm women (6.0, 12.0 and 12.0% in crop, livestock and fisheries enterprises, respectively) showed unfavorable attitude yet due to some problems which they addressed in the problems section. But this unfavorable attitude doesn’t mean that they were not using mobile phone in their enterprise purpose. It means resolving different problem related issues leads them using mobile phone continuously as like the women who showed highly favorable attitude towards mobile phone. This finding confirmed the findings of Pudke et al. (2018) and Naik et al. (2020) who revealed that the majority of the respondent was having a moderately favorable attitude towards the mobile phone.

Training received on mobile phone

The information displayed in Table 6 demonstrates that the relationship between the training received of the rural women entrepreneurs and their extent of usages of mobile. The null hypothesis tested in this connection was: ‘There is no association between the training received of the rural women entrepreneurs and their extent of usage of mobile phones.’

Table 6. Distribution of rural women entrepreneurs according to their training received on mobile phone and extent of usage of mobile phone.

Training received on mobile phone	Extent of usage of mobile phone			Total	Chi-square value
	Low (≤6)	Medium (7-12)	High (>12)
No training (0)	8 (100)	0 (0)	0 (0)	8	41.91**
Low trained (1–2)	13 (46)	14 (50)	1 (4)	28
Moderately trained (3–4)	17 (26)	46 (71)	2 (3)	65
Highly trained (>4)	11 (22)	24 (49)	14 (29)	49
Total	49	84	17	150

**Significant at the 0.01 level of probability.

Analysis of data displayed in the following table indicates that there were significant variations in the extent of usages of mobile phones by the rural women entrepreneurs according to the variations in their training received on mobile phone. The highest proportion (29%) of the rural women entrepreneurs fell under the highly trained category compared to 3% moderately trained, and 4% low trained category.

Whereas the percentage of rural women entrepreneurs with low usage of mobile phones was highest (100%) in the no trained category compared to 46% low trained category, 26% moderately trained, and 22% highly trained category. These variations were statistically significant at a 1% level of probability as indicated by the chi-square value of 41.91. Therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected, and it was concluded that there is a relationship between the training received on mobile phone by the rural women entrepreneurs and their extent of usage of mobile phones.

Membership in an organization

The rendered Table 7 was shown to test the relationship between the membership in the organization of the rural women entrepreneurs and their extent of usages of mobile phones. The null hypothesis tested in this connection was: ‘There is no association between the membership in an organization of the rural women entrepreneurs and their usage of mobile phones.’

Table 7. Distribution of rural women entrepreneurs according to their membership in organization and extent of usage of mobile phone.

Membership in organization	Extent of usage of mobile phone			Total	Chi-square value
	Low (≤6)	Medium (7-12)	High (>12)
Less participation (<12)	26 (57)	20 (43)	0 (0)	46	38.04**
Medium participation (12–24)	21 (24)	56 (65)	9 (10)	86
High participation (>24)	2 (11)	8 (44)	8 (44)	18
Total	49	84	17	150

**Significant at the 0.01 level of probability.

Analysis of data contained in the Table 7 indicates that there were appreciable variations in the extent of usages of mobile phones by the rural women entrepreneurs according to the variations in their membership in an organization. The percentage of rural women entrepreneurs with high usage of mobile phones was the highest (44) in the high participation category compared to 10% in the medium category.

While, percent of rural women entrepreneurs with low usage of mobile phones was highest (57) in the less participation category, compared to 24 in the medium participation category and 11% in the high participation category. These variations were statistically significant as the calculated chi-square value (38.04) was found to be significant at a 1% level of significance. Because of the above findings, the null hypothesis was rejected, and it was concluded that there is a relationship between the membership in the organization of the rural women entrepreneurs and their extent of usage of mobile phones.

Amount of money spent

Table 8 depicts the relationship between the amount of money spent by the rural women entrepreneurs and their extent of usages of mobile phones. The null hypothesis tested in this connection was: ‘There is no association between the amounts of money spent of the rural women entrepreneurs and their usage of mobile phones.’ Analysis of data contained in Table 8 indicates that there were appreciable variations in the extent of usages of mobile phones by the rural women entrepreneurs according to the variations in their amount of money spent.

Table 8. Distribution of rural women entrepreneurs according to their amount of money spent and extent of usage of mobile phone.

Amount of money spent	Extent of usage of mobile phone			Total	Chi-square value
	Low (≤6)	Medium (7–12)	High (>12)
Less than 5 takas	27 (47)	29 (51)	1 (2)	57	32.66**
6–13 taka	19 (25)	49 (64)	8 (11)	76
More than 13 takas	3 (18)	6 (35)	8 (47)	17
Total	49	84	17	150

Note. % value in parenthesis, **Significant at the 0.01 level of probability.

The highest proportion (47%) of the rural farm women spent more than 13 takas compare to 11% spent 6–13-taka, 2% spent less than 5 takas. Whereas % of rural women entrepreneurs with low usage of mobile phones was highest (47%) in the less than 5 takas spent category, compared to 25%within6-13 taka spent category, and 18% under more than 13 taka spent category. These variations were statistically significant at 1% level of probability as indicated by the chi-square value of 32.66. Given the above findings, the null hypothesis was rejected, and it was concluded that there is a relationship between the amount of money spent of the rural women entrepreneurs and their extent of usage of mobile phones. Therefore, it might be told that as the amount of money spent increases, the probability of rural women’s using mobile phones also increases.

Distance of residence from the nearest market

In this study, the distance was measured as a kilometer from rural women’s houses to the nearest market. The nearest market is the place where there is access to agricultural farm information such as the price of products, availability of agricultural inputs/dealer shops, information about agricultural technologies, and the rural women entrepreneurs sell and buy their farm produces. Rural women entrepreneurs were categorized into close to the market and far away from the nearest market considering the mean distance.

Findings elucidate from Table 9 that in the case of all three enterprises (crop, livestock and fisheries), the average distance between communities of the rural women entrepreneurs and market was found 3.73, 1.97 and 5.33 kilometers, respectively. Moreover, the maximum distance between communities to the nearest market was 6.5, 3.5 and 8 kilometers for three enterprises. Therefore, it might be said that in the three different study areas the distance between rural women entrepreneurs’ communities and the nearest market varied considerably. As the livestock enterprise area located near to the mainland so, maximum distance of the market is lower compare to two other enterprises situated in char land and coastal areas, respectively (Table 9). Findings also explored that majority (58.0% and 76.0%) of the rural women in crop and fisheries enterprise fell under far away from the nearest market while an overwhelming majority (90.0%) of the rural women fell under close to the market in livestock enterprise. This might be because rural women of crop and fisheries enterprise live in the embankment of Teesta and Kholpetua rivers which is very much remote but rural women’s community of livestock enterprise is near to the mainland area. Therefore, the market is closer compare to the other two study areas.

Table 9. Distribution of the rural women entrepreneur according to their distance of residence from the nearest market.

Categories (Km.)	Crop enterprise (n = 50)		Livestock enterprise (n = 50)		Fisheries enterprise (n = 50)
	No	%	No	%	No	%
Close to market (0.50–3.0 km)	21	42.0	45	90.0	12	24.0
Far away from the nearest market (>3.0 km)	29	58.0	5	10.0	38	76.0
Total	50	100.0	50	100.0	50	100.0
Range	2–6.5		1.5–3.5		1–8
Mean	3.73		1.97		5.33

Determinants influencing the extent of usage of mobile phone of the respondent rural farm women

The determinants influencing the extent of usage of mobile phone of the respondent rural women has been explored. Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient and chi-square test was conducted to explore the association between selected characteristics of the respondent and extent of usage of mobile phone. Multiple regression analysis (MLR) was performed between selected characteristics of the respondent and extent of usage of mobile phone; step-wise regression analysis was followed among significant variables of MLR model. Finally, path analysis was done to explore the direct and indirect effect of characteristics of the respondent rural women on the extent of usage of mobile phone.

Association between selected characteristics of the respondent rural farm women on the extent of usage of mobile phone

The output of the chi-square test in Table 10 revealed that, among the eleven independent discrete variables, eight variables (educational qualification, family size, physical mobility, membership in organization, training received, training utilization, skill in using a mobile phone, amount of money spent) were statistically significantly and positively associated with the dependent variable at 0.05 and 0.01 levels of significance.

Table 10. Association between characteristics of the respondent and extent of usage of mobile phone.

Focus issue	Characteristics (Discrete)	χ^2 value	df
Extent of usage of mobile phone	Age of the rural women (X1)	1.87 ^NS	4
	Educational qualification (X2)	35.73**	10
	Family size (X3)	10.88*	4
	Physical mobility (X4)	27.24**	4
	Membership in Organization (X5)	38.04**	4
	Training received on mobile phone (X13)	41.91**	6
	Training utilization (X14)	0.600**	6
	Skill in using mobile phone (X15)	21.99**	4
	Credit received (X10)	3.52^NS	8
	Amount of money spent (X19)	32.66**	4
	Duration of mobile phone ownership (X12)	9.04^NS	6
	Characteristics (Continuous)	r value	148
	Family annual income (X9)	−0.024 (NS)
	Family total mobile (X11)	0.040(NS)
	Family farm size (X6)	0.119(NS)
	Distance of residence from the nearest market (X8)	0.327**
	Experience in farming (X7)	0.035(NS)
	Attitude towards mobile phone (X17)	0.600**
	Self-efficacy (X16)	0.562**
	Information seeking behavior (X18)	0.351**
	Perceived ease of use (X20)	0.561**
	Perceived usefulness (X21)	0.452**

*Indicates significant at 5% level of probability; **indicates Significant at 1% level of probability.

NS: non-significant.

The output of Pearson correlation analysis in Table 10 indicated that, among the 10 independent continuous variables, six (distance of residence from the nearest market, attitude towards mobile phone, sense of efficacy, information-seeking behavior, perceived ease of use, and perceived usefulness) had a statistically significant relationship with the extent of usage of mobile phone in farm enterprises at 0.05 and 0.01 level of significance. The other four independent variables (family annual income, family total mobile, family farm size, and experience in farming) had no statistically significant relationship with the extent of usage of mobile phones at 0.05 and 0.01 levels of significance.

Multiple regression models with significant independent variables on the extent of usage of mobile phone

The fourteen variables namely distance of residence from the nearest market, attitude towards mobile phone, sense of efficacy, information-seeking behavior, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, educational qualification, family size, physical mobility, membership in organization, training received, training utilization, skill in using a mobile phone, and amount of money spent were included in the regression analysis model. The findings of the regression analysis are presented in Table 11.

Table 11. Multiple regression analysis (MLR) of rural women entrepreneurs’ usage of mobile phones in farm enterprises.

Independent variables	Extent of usage of mobile phone		t-value	Sig
	Unstd. Coefficients	Std. Coefficients
	β	β
(Constant)	−.519		−.439	.046
X2. Educational qualification	.082	.118	1.639	.104
X3. Family size	−.145	−.072	−1.273	.205
X4. Physical mobility	.091	.100	1.543	.125
X5. Membership in an organization	.098	.161	2.445	.016
X8. Distance of residence from the nearest market	.324	.188	3.032	.003
X13. Training received on mobile phone	.321	.248	4.026	.000
X14. Training utilization	.049	.010	.167	.867
X15. Skill in using mobile phone	.937	.199	2.727	.007
X16. Self-efficacy	.033	.066	.864	.389
X17. Attitude towards mobile phone	.095	.229	2.781	.006
X18. Information seeking behaviors’	.034	.121	1.858	.065
X19. Amount of money spent	.174	.205	3.275	.001
X20. Perceived ease of use	.138	.179	1.948	.054
X21. Perceived usefulness	.048	.088	.935	.351

n = 150; df = 149; R = 0.814; R² = 0.66; Adjusted R² = 0.63; F = 17.591, p ≤ 0.01.

The findings indicating that the regression coefficient of only seven variables namely membership in an organization, distance of residence from the nearest market, training received on mobile phone, skill in using mobile phone, attitude towards mobile phone, amount of money spent, and perceived ease of use had significant contribution to the extent of mobile phone usage of the rural farm women entrepreneurs.

The adjusted R² value was 0.63, and the corresponding F value was 17.591, indicating statistical significance at the 0.000 level. The adjusted R² value suggests that 63% of the total variance in the usage of mobile phones by rural women was accounted for by the seven variables found significant in the MLR analysis. The researcher rejected the null hypothesis and concluded that each of the significant factors had a significant impact on the extent of mobile phone usage by rural women. Those women who had more participation in an organization, longer training experience on mobile phone, had highly favorable attitude towards mobile phone, staying longer distance from nearest market, more money spent and higher perceived ease of use were found to have higher extent of usage of mobile phone.

Stepwise regression model analysis

The purpose of this model was to find out the relative contribution of the significant variables (X₅, X₈, X₁₃, X₁₇, X₁₉, and X₂₀) on the extent of rural farm women entrepreneur’s usage of mobile phones. The results of stepwise regression analysis are presented in Table 12.

Table 12. Step-wise regression analysis with significant variables of usage of mobile phones by rural women entrepreneurs.

Model	Variables entered	Adjusted R^2	R^2 for entered variables	F-value	Sig. F
1	Attitude towards mobile phone (X17)	0.356	.360	83.395	.000
2	Training received on mobile phone (X13)	0.466	.113	66.137	.000
3	Membership in an organization (X5)	0.549	.084	61.427	.000
4	Amount of money spent (X19)	0.574	.027	51.124	.000
5	Distance of residence from the nearest market (X8)	0.599	.027	45.465	.000
6	Perceived ease of use (X20)	0.609	.013	39.693	.000

The regression analysis indicates that attitude towards mobile phones of the rural women found to have great influence and accounted 36.0 of total variation on extent of usage of mobile phone. Other factors in order of their extent of contributions were training received on mobile phone (11.3%), membership in an organization (8.4%), amount of money spent (2.7%), the distance of residence from the nearest market (2.7%), and perceived ease of use (1.3%).

Effects of the characteristics of the rural women entrepreneurs on the usage of mobile phone

In the path diagram, the straight one-way arrows represent the direct path coefficient from the independent variables to the dependent variable and the curved two-way arrows represented the correlation between the connected variables (Saed-moucheshi et al., 2013). The diagram indicated that among the independent variables, attitude towards mobile phone had the highest direct effect (0.30) in the positive direction followed by the training received on mobile phone, membership in an organization, amount of money spent and distance of residence from the nearest market had the appreciable positive direct effect of 0.24, 0.19, 0.19 and 0.16, respectively. Perceived ease of use had the lowest direct effect (0.14) in the positive direction on the extent of usage of mobile phones. The path model has been shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4. Direct effects of selected independent variables on the extent of usage of mobile phone.

The direct effect of attitude towards mobile phone was 0.30 and the correlation between perceived ease of use and attitude towards mobile phone was 0.55. So, the indirect effect of attitude towards mobile phones became (0.30 × 0.55 = 0.165). In this way, other indirect effects are explained in Table 13 which has been obtained from path co-efficient analysis. The variable named perceived ease of use had the highest (0.413) total indirect effect followed by attitude towards mobile phone, training received on mobile phone, membership in an organization, and amount of money spent had the appreciable total indirect effect of 0.292, 0.282, 0.276 and 0.273, respectively. The variable distance of residence from the nearest market had the lowest (0.163) total indirect effect on usage of mobile phones in farm enterprises (Table 13).

Table 13. Path coefficients showing the direct and indirect effects of six (6) significant independent variables on the extent of usage of mobile phone.

Independent variables	Direct effects	Total indirect effects	Variables through which indirect effects are channeled
			Indirect effects	Variables
Perceived ease of use	0.14	0.413	0.066	Membership in organization
			0.084	Training received on mobile phone
			0.063	Amount of money spent
			0.035	Distance of residence from the nearest market
			0.166	Attitude towards mobile phone
Attitude towards mobile phone	0.30	0.292	0.077	Perceived ease of use
			0.053	Membership in organization
			0.086	Training received on mobile phone
			0.070	Amount of money spent
			0.006	Distance of residence from the nearest market
Training received on mobile phone	0.24	0.282	0.045	Amount of money spent
			0.048	Distance of residence from the nearest market
			0.107	Attitude towards mobile phone
			0.049	Perceived ease of use
			0.033	Membership in organization
Membership in an organization	0.19	0.276	0.042	Training received on mobile phone
			0.059	Amount of money spent
			0.042	Distance of residence from the nearest market
			0.084	Attitude towards mobile phone
			0.048	Perceived ease of use
Amount of money spent	0.19	0.273	0.000	Distance of residence from the nearest market
			0.111	Attitude towards mobile phone
			0.046	Perceived ease of use
			0.059	Membership in organization
			0.056	Training received on mobile phone
Distance of residence from the nearest market	0.16	0.163	0.011	Attitude towards mobile phone
			0.030	Perceived ease of use
			0.050	Membership in organization
			0.072	Training received on mobile phone
			0.000	Amount of money spent

Based on path analysis, below are the independent variables that had indirect effects on the usage of mobile phones in farm enterprises, presented in descending order.

Perceived ease of use

Path analysis showed that perceived ease of use had the highest total indirect effect (0.413) and a positive direct effect of 0.14 on the extent of usage of mobile phones. The indirect effect was mostly channeled positively through attitude towards mobile phones. The indirect effect of perceived ease of use was somewhat positively channeled through training received on mobile phones, membership in the organization, and the amount of money spent. There was a negligible indirect effect of perceived ease of use on the usage of mobile phones through distance of residence from the nearest market. It may be inferred that, with other variables remaining constant, perceived ease of use was a determinant of rural women’s usage of mobile phones in farm enterprises.

Attitude towards mobile phone

It was found from the path analysis that attitude towards mobile phones had the second-highest total indirect effect (0.292) and a positive direct effect of 0.30 on the extent of usage of mobile phones in farm enterprises. The indirect effect was mostly channeled positively through training received on mobile phone, perceived ease of use, and the amount of money spent. The indirect effect of attitude towards mobile phones was somewhat positively channeled through membership in the organization. There was a negligible indirect effect of attitude towards mobile phone on the extent of usage of the mobile phone through distance of residence from the nearest market. It may be inferred that, with other variables remaining constant, attitude towards mobile phones was a determinant of rural women’s usage of mobile phones in the farm enterprise.

Training received on mobile phone

In terms of descending order, training received on mobile phone had the third total indirect effect (0.282) and a positive direct effect of 0.24 on the extent of usage of mobile phones in farm enterprises. The indirect effect was mostly channeled positively through attitude towards mobile phones. The indirect effect of training received on mobile phone was somewhat positively channeled through perceived ease of use, the distance of residence from the nearest market, and the amount of money spent. There were negligible indirect effects of training received on mobile phone on the extent of usage of mobile phones through membership in the organization. It may be inferred that, with other variables remaining constant, training received on mobile phone had an influence on the extent of usage of mobile phones and was an important determinant of rural women’s usage of mobile phones.

Membership in an organization

Path analysis revealed that membership in an organization had the fourth total indirect effect (0.276) and a positive direct effect of 0.19 on the extent of usage of mobile phones. The indirect effect was mostly channeled positively through attitude towards mobile phone and amount of money spent. The indirect effect of membership in the organization was somewhat positively channeled through perceived ease of use. There was a negligible indirect effect of membership in the organization on the extent of usage of mobile phones through distance of residence from the nearest market and training received on mobile phone. It may be inferred that, with other variables remaining constant, membership in an organization had an influence on the extent of usage of mobile phones and was an important determinant of rural women’s usage of mobile phones.

Amount of money spent

Based on the path analysis, it was found that the amount of money spent had the 5th total indirect effect (0.273) and a positive direct effect of 0.19 on the extent of mobile phone usage. The indirect effect was mainly positively channeled through attitude towards mobile phones, with a somewhat positive influence through membership in the organization, training received on mobile phone, and perceived ease of use. However, there were very negligible or no indirect effects of the amount of money spent on mobile phone usage through distance of residence from the nearest market. Therefore, it can be inferred that, all other variables remaining constant, the amount of money spent played a crucial role in determining the extent of mobile phone usage and was an important factor in the rural women’s use of mobile phones.

Distance of residence from the nearest market

The path analysis revealed that distance of residence from the nearest market had the 6th total indirect effect (0.163) and a positive direct effect of 0.16 on the extent of mobile phone usage. The indirect effect was mostly positively channeled through training received on mobile phone and membership in the organization, while the indirect effect of distance of residence from the nearest market was somewhat positively channeled through perceived ease of use and attitude towards mobile phones. However, there were very negligible or no indirect effects of the distance of residence from the nearest market on the extent of mobile phone usage through the amount of money spent. Thus, it can be inferred that, all other variables remaining constant, the distance of residence from the nearest market influenced the usage of mobile phones and was an important determinant of the rural women’s usage of mobile phones in the farm enterprise.

Discussions

Based on the findings on receiving phone call trend and frequency of the received phone call, it might be said that the rural farm women using their mobile phone particularly in the remote areas for keeping in touch with the community that is country as a whole. Because connectivity helps them for better living standard, access to different services and ultimately which increase their mental satisfaction as a member of the community (Pahuja, 2019). The phone calling trend found helpful. This might be due to the fact that information needs and seeking behavior of the farm women was different from each other. One more thing is that during cropping season when more farming activities have to perform by rural farm women frequency of contacting with input dealers and agricultural input selling shops who are the suppliers of improved seeds, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides was increased leads to higher frequency of calling per day (Acedera & Yeoh, 2021). SMS sending required similar types of charge like calling for sharing something via this default app. This result also complements those of Crandall (2012) who revealed that mobile phone user still prefers to call rather than send SMS due to the ease of calling and limitation of using SMS. On the other hand, the smart phone owners send such types of messages using Facebook and messenger that also easy to perform and sharing anything with photo more easily compare to default SMS app. In line with the overall usage of mobile phone it is inferred that nowadays mobile and internet is very much necessary for daily routine works. Farmers used a mobile phone for different activities like information related to the weather forecast, fertilizer doses, newly developed varieties, market rates, use of kissan call centers, advisory messages from KVK, etc.

In regards to contributory factors on the extent of usage of mobile phone it is explored that the attitude of the respondents towards mobile phone is highly favorable. This might be due to that there are a good number of GOs and NGOs implement different types of projects/program for improving the livelihood of the char land people. Therefore, they were receiving continuous training, attend different motivational programs and interact with the project people which ultimate affect their psychological state positively towards new technologies especially the communicating device for networking and information gathering purpose. This issue might be one of the reasons for highly favorable attitude towards mobile phone in the char land women. While in coastal areas it was experienced that different project/programs were also implementing in those areas but staying outsiders for implementing these programs was challenging for various reason like unavailability of safe drinking water and other factors for continuously working in those areas (embankment of Kholpetua river which is nearest to the Sundarban). So that the interaction between different GOs and NGOs people were less comparing to char land areas. However, the women of the coastal area were well educated and self-motivated and the vulnerable climatic condition enforces them for using mobile phone as an enabling tool for communication and farm enterprise purpose (Abdullahi et al., 2021). Therefore, their attitude is also highly favorable towards mobile phone but a little bit lower compare to crop farm women. The highest proportion of the rural entrepreneurs having high training. The possible reason might be that training improves the skill of a person to use a new technology practically. Therefore, more training on mobile phone use enhances the extent of usage of rural farm women. This finding supports the findings of Abdullahi et al. (2021), which demonstrated a correlation between training and the capacity of individuals to employ mobile phones for disseminating agricultural information.

Membership in the organization of the rural women entrepreneurs contribute in extent of usage of mobile phone. This might be because more membership in an organization leads to an increase the contact with different people within and outside the community. The higher participation in the organization by the rural farm women tries to get exposed more sources and channels of agricultural information for acquiring knowledge on modern farm practices. This might have contributed positively towards the association of membership in the organization and the extent of mobile phone usage by the rural farm women. A similar type of result was revealed by Zheng and Lu (2021) who concluded that farmers who are part of a group are more likely to use and benefit from information services. Amount of money spent increases the usage of mobile phone. The possible reason might be that those rural women entrepreneurs who spent more money on mobile phones per day for various mobile phone activities in search of information and contacting experts to support their farm enterprise activities along with entertainment and family communication. Furthermore, rural women entrepreneurs who spend more money might use mobile phones for different purposes other than farm enterprises related issues such as connecting to the internet for social media like Facebook, IMO, skype or others (Pahuja, 2019). Distance of residence from the nearest market influence the usage of mobile phone. Kaske et al. (2018) also explored that farmer far away from towns that use mobile phones are more likely to be more self-sufficient and reduce costs of traveling to nearby towns to access information than farmers close to towns.

Among the determinants influencing the extent of usage of mobile phone of the respondents’ rural farm women, attitude plays a vital role. The rural farm women considered in the present study are living in very remote areas where technological innovations are hard to reach. Mobile phone is more than a communication device among the village level women. Socio-economic aspects of the study area and owning a mobile phone by the rural women showed a complex environment in where attitude is only an important contributory factor of their mobile phone use. However, attitude plays a significant role in persuading the rural women intension to use of mobile phone. Adoption of such kind of communicating technology using in the rural village area attitude plays a significant role on influencing their behavior in their locality (Pudke et al., 2018).

Conclusions

A significant proportion of rural women in crop and fisheries enterprises have a medium extent of mobile phone usage, while more than half of the rural women have a low extent of mobile phone usage in livestock enterprise. The extent of mobile phone usage varies significantly among rural women based on their different farm enterprises and information needs. Successful communication through mobile phones depends on the selected characteristics of rural women. Factors considered in the study played a crucial role in influencing the usage of mobile phones. Multiple regression analysis identified several rural women’s profile variables that influenced the extent of mobile phone usage in communicating information, including membership in an organization, distance of residence from the nearest market, training received on mobile phone, skill in using mobile phone, attitude towards mobile phone, amount of money spent, and perceived ease of use. These explanatory variables combinedly explained 66% (R² = 0.66) of the variance. The stepwise regression analysis showed that attitude towards mobile phones was the most important contributing factor, explaining 36.0% of the variations in rural women’s usage of mobile phones. Path analysis indicated that attitude towards mobile phone had a positive direct effect of 0.30 on the extent of mobile phone usage, and perceived ease of use had the highest total indirect effect (0.413), mostly channeled positively through attitude towards the mobile phone. It can be concluded that attitude towards mobile phones is an important contributory factor in the usage of mobile phones.

However, the extent of mobile phone usage for enterprise development by rural farm women is not up to the mark. This is concerning because without connectivity through mobile phones, women are unable to reach their entrepreneurial dreams. Technology has made the world a global village; hence, to remain connected with it, rural women must increase their mobile phone usage in their entrepreneurial activities. Therefore, it is recommended that government and concerned service providers plan agricultural enterprise development programs in rural areas where women must use smart mobile phones in their entrepreneurial activities. To make this successful, low-cost smart mobile phones should be provided, and the network signal and speed of data should be improved to ensure stable and faster internet service. The Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) should prepare a database of interested rural women entrepreneurs and ensure subsidies for low-price call tariffs and internet data packages for them.

Policy implications and future directions

Policymakers, extension agencies, and development professionals and other concerned who want to enhance technological usage like mobile phone for farm enterprise development in rural areas should take note of the research findings. Furthermore, programs that support digital literacy focuses on mobile phone usage should be given top priority by politicians, especially for underrepresented populations like women and small-scale rural women who are struggling with the development of the agricultural farm enterprises. Digital literacy program for adult might implement for rural farm women which enabling them to effectively use of mobile phone for agricultural farm enterprise development purpose. Develop and indorse mobile phone based agricultural extension services that provide women with access to farming advice, weather forecasts, market prices, and other critical necessary information. By exploring these directions, future research can deepen the understanding of the effects of mobile phone usage on agricultural specifically crop, livestock and fisheries enterprises development by rural women in Bangladesh leading to more effective policies and interventions.

Limitations

This study has some important exploration, but it also has several drawbacks that need to be noted. First off, the study’s sample size and geographic focus may have limited how broadly the results may be applied in different situations. To provide a more thorough understanding of the factors impacting digital inclusion in agriculture, future study might examine mobile phone usage patterns among rural farm women in various agricultural areas. Moreover, because the study was cross-sectional in nature, it is not possible to draw conclusions about causality. Instead, longitudinal research is required to look at the dynamics of technology uptake and usage patterns over time. Furthermore, combining quantitative surveys with qualitative methods (e.g., interviews, focus groups) would be a good approach to capture a more comprehensive picture.

Authors contributions

MSR and MEH conceptualized and designed the study, collected and analysed the data. MSR, MEH, MSIA, SSH, MAR and MRFN wrote and edit the original draft. All authors have viewed the final version of the text and agreed to publish it as well as to be accountable for all issues of the work.

Informed consent statement

Informed consent has been provided.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study will be available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to their containing information that could compromise the privacy of research respondents.

Additional information

Funding

This study did not receive any external funds.

Notes on contributors

Md. Sadekur Rahman

Dr. Md. Sadekur Rahman is a Professor at the Department of Agricultural Extension, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, Bangladesh. His research focus is on many areas like climate change and its adaptation in agriculture, impact of ICT based extension services on women and ecosystem services of crops and forests on the context of climate change and urbanization, urban and rural environmental and regional planning. He has more than 35 publications in various journals of home and abroad. His recent publication is on impact of mobile phone usage on empowerment of rural women entrepreneurs: evidence from rural Bangladesh which is published in Heliyon.

Md. Enamul Haque

Md. Enamul Haque, PhD is a Professor at the Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University, Bangladesh. He is focusing different research issues like communication and technology transfer, communication content analysis, climate change and adaptation, sustainable management of natural resources, agricultural technology and rural social change, ICT in agriculture etc. He has more than 95 published articles in various journals. He has supervised as major Professor of many graduate theses including 18 PhD theses, and 86 MS dissertations.

Md. Safiul Islam Afrad

Dr. Md. Safiul Islam Afrad is a Professor at the Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University, Bangladesh. He is working on various socio-demographic and ICT related research issues like farmers’ knowledge and attitude, use of ICT as extension tool, knowledge and perception of extension workers towards ICT utilization, Utility of mobile phone etc. He has supervised as major Professor of many graduate theses MS dissertations.

Shaikh Shamim Hasan

Dr. Shaikh Shamim Hasan is serving as Professor at the Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University (BSMRAU), Bangladesh. He has specialization and interest in land use management through using different models, higher education quality assessment and different aspects of rural development related issues. He received his Ph.D. (2017) from the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research (IGSNRR) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, China. He has more than 65 published articles in various journals.

Md. Abiar Rahman

Dr. Md. Abiar Rahman is a Professor, Dept. of Agroforestry and Environment, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University (BSMRAU), Bangladesh. He is an expert on agroforestry, agro-climatology, sustainable agriculture and land use design. He did PhD and Postdoc in Kyushu University, Japan by getting award from MEXT and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) scholarships, respectively. He has supervised 33 postgraduate students in the fields of agroforestry, environment and climate change & adaptation. He has published 54 articles in different journals and attended 30 international conferences / seminars / workshops.

Md. Rubayet Al Ferdous Noman

Md. Rubayet Al Ferdous Noman is working as Assistant Professor at the Department of Agricultural Extension, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, Bangladesh. His research interests’ areas are on socio-demography and economy of the rural people, livelihood and empowerment, agricultural policy analysis, climate change and adaptation strategies, KAP of rural farm owners etc. He has more than 17 different publications in various journals.