Effectiveness of mobile-based agricultural advisory services in improving crop management decisions

Abstract:

Could a smartphone app replace the village extension officer? This research tested the hypothesis that mobile-based advisory services improve crop management decisions by comparing three delivery channels—a custom smartphone app with push notifications, a weekly SMS bulletin, and no digital advisory (control)—among 360 arable farmers in Lower Saxony, Germany, over the 2023 growing season. Farmers were randomly assigned to groups (120 each). The app group made timelier fertiliser applications (4.3 days closer to the agronomic optimum), reduced unnecessary fungicide sprays by 22%, and achieved 6.8% higher wheat yield than the control. The SMS group showed intermediate improvements. Farmer satisfaction was highest for the app (7.8/10) and lowest for SMS (6.2/10), mainly because the app allowed image-based pest identification. Adoption—defined as continued use after 12 months—reached 74% for the app versus 48% for SMS. These findings suggest that interactive mobile platforms outperform passive text-based channels for agricultural advice, though connectivity gaps in rural Germany remain a barrier for roughly 18% of participating farms.