Digital exclusion in agricultural communication: Exploring socioeconomic and infrastructural barriers to ICT use in rural Pakistan

Digital technologies are transforming the agricultural communications sector and providing a new emerging opportunity to the small-scale farmers as they seek to access vital information in the markets, weather, and crop management. However, in underdeveloped countries such as Pakistan, there is still a significant challenge of digital exclusion and especially where the rural populations face a digital divide due to various factors such as infrastructure, literacy, and lack of trust in the digital content. This paper examines socioeconomic and infrastructural determinants of ICT adoption among rural smallholder farmers in Pakistan, with respect to digital access, literacy, and trust. The study used a cross-sectional survey of 300 farmers in Punjab, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to reflect the validated constructs of the Digital Divide Model by van Dijk and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) with a view of assessing the determinants of digital adoptions in agriculture. The results of multiple regression analyses indicate that the degree of education, infrastructure, digital literacy, and trust in digital content are statistically significant predictors of ICT use, whereas gender and age were insignificant predictors. The findings show that trust is a strong correlate (r = 0.85, p < .001), and this fact demonstrates the importance of content credibility in the digital adoption process. The research advises that digital exclusion can be addressed through investing in infrastructure, establishing capacity to use, and trust in digital ecosystems. The study as well provides empirical evidence on the ICT4D and rural communication literature, and provides practical policy implications in the area of inclusive digital agriculture, including the need to adopt human-centric methods that place emphasis on trust, training, and customized content as well as technological infrastructure. • Studies digital exclusion among farmers in rural Pakistan. • Uses models of technology adoption and digital divide. • Education, income, and literacy drive technology use in farming. • Trust in online information fosters the adoption of digital tools. • Recommends training, local content, and better infrastructure.