The Role of Mobile Phone Use and Credit Access in Enhancing Chili Farmers’ Income in Magelang Regency, Central Java, Indonesia

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of mobile phone usage and access to credit on the revenue of chili farmers in India. The research was conducted in Magelang Regency, where 200 chili farmers were surveyed using structured questionnaires. The independent variables included age, gender, educational background, farming experience, land weight, seed number, fertilizer number, pesticide number (liter), pesticide number (kg), day female work (WH), day of male work (WH), mobile phone usage, credit access, total cost (IDR), chili production (kg), chili price (IDR/kg). The dependent variable was the revenue derived from the chili farming. Multiple linear regression analysis was employed to achieve the research objective. The results indicate that age, gender, educational background, farming experience, land weight, seed number, pesticide number (liter), day female work (WH), credit access, has no/significant effect on revenue. However fertilizer number, pesticide number (kg), day of male work (WH), mobile phone usagetotal cost (IDR), chili production (kg), chili price (IDR/kg) had a significant influence on revenue (p < 0.05). On average, the chili farmers in the study kept approximately 1722.05 kg of chili per one cultivated season (6 months), generating a one season revenue of IDR 61,513,500. The findings highlight that mobile phone usage have a significant positive and negative impact on chili farming revenue, but credit not have impact on revenue. Mobile phones enhance market access, facilitate communication, and improve farm management efficiency. This study suggests that expanding access to KUR and implementing digital literacy initiatives could further augment these positive effects.