Determining the casual model the role of information and communication technologies in improving food accessibility of Iranian rural households.
Farhad Lashgarara, Seyed Mehdi Mirdamadi, Seyed Jamal, Farajollah Hosseini · World Applied Sciences Journal · 2010
Access to desirable, sufficient, safe and nutritious food is one of the basic components of th e development and health of a society. Information and communications technologies (ICTs) represent an important strategy that can be used in attaining food accessibility. An increase in the capability of thes e technologies in different areas and the consideration of the problems that are faced by rural Iranian households regarding food accessibility are areas that need to be investigated. The main purpose of this research, performed in 2006-2007, was to identify the effectiveness of ICTs in improving the food accessibility of rural Iranian households. A descriptive methodology was applied in this research, through questionnaires. The statistical population for the study included 253 agricultural extension experts; from this population, 170 persons were selected. The results showed that, according to the experts' point of view, the situation of food accessibility in rural Iranian households was unsuitable, but that ICTs could play an important role in improving the situation. The results of stepwise regressions showed that decreasing costs to access to information, improving the ability to acquire knowledge for individuals, considering clientele needs, Clientele-oriented programs and content of old technologies were determined to account for 69% of the variance of the food accessibility of rural Iranian households. Moreover, the path analysis technique demonstrated that improving the ability to acquire knowledge for individuals had the greatest influence on determining the casual model of improving the food accessibility of rural Iranian households (β = 0.95).