Research on World Agricultural Economy

The Role of Mobile Technology Adoption in Developing Sustainable Agricultural Marketing Efficiency and Reducing Transaction Costs Among Smallholder Farmers

Hayder M. Ali

Department of Information Technology, College of Science, University of Warith Al‑Anbiyaa, Karbala 56001, Iraq

Sathiyasuntharam Velayutham

Department of Computer Science and Engineering, School of Computer Science and Engineering, Sharda University, Greater Noida 201310, India

Keerthi Samhitha Babu

Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation, Vaddeswaram 522502, India

Firas Tayseer Ayasrah

College of Education, Humanities and Science, Al Ain University, Al Ain P.O. Box 112612, United Arab Emirates

Aseel Smerat

Faculty of Educational Sciences, Al-Ahliyya Amman University, Amman, 19328, Jordan; Department of Biosciences, Saveetha School of Engineering, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Chennai, 602105, Tamil Nadu, India.

Subhashree Balasubramanian

Department of Information Technology, V.S.B. College of Engineering Technical Campus, Coimbatore 642109, India

Asqar Absamatov

Department of Finance and Tourism, Termez University of Economics and Service, Termez 190100, Uzbekistan

Sudhakar Sengan

Department of Computer Science and Engineering, PSN College of Engineering and Technology, Tirunelveli 627152, India

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36956/rwae.v7i2.2735

Received: 14 September 2025 | Revised: 3 November 2025 | Accepted: 10 November 2025 | Published Online: 29 April 2026

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Abstract

The main objective of the present study is to investigate how smallholder farmers (SF) in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India, are using mobile technology to develop sustainable access to markets for agricultural products and reduce transaction costs. This research employs a mixed-methods approach (MMA) to examine the effects of mobile payment systems, diverse technologies, and mobile devices on TC, MA, and LoI. A total of 273 farmers were surveyed, of whom 137 were initial adopters and 136 did not participate at any time. A subset of 27 farmers and vital stakeholder groups was then subjected to a complete evaluation. The experimental results of this investigation validate that MTA significantly minimises TC for SF, particularly search costs (SC) (by 35.85%) and negotiation costs (NC) (by 31.00%). The results showed a significant 83.97% increase in LoI and a 43.21% increase in MA among farmers who implemented MTA, compared with those who did not. The experimental results presented here show that MTA can improve MA and LoI in rural agricultural backgrounds, predominantly when challenged by environmental changes. This research study highlights problems with MTA, including limited setup and electronic data issues, but also validates that MTA supports livestock farmers in NC and MA by enabling real-time data collection for SA.

Keywords: Sustainable Agricultural Marketing; Smallholder Farmers; Mobile Technology Adoption; Mixed‑Methods Approach; Short Message Service; Digital Literacy

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