Acceptance of ICT in Agricultural Sector in the Republic of North Macedonia

Ivo Paunovski; Dimitar Kovačevski

doi:10.32015/JIBM/2019-11-2-10

Ivo Paunovski, MBA, PhD Cand. University American College Skopje, North Macedonia
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dimitar Kovačevski University American College Skopje, School of Business Economics and Management, Skopje, North Macedonia

DOI: https://doi.org/10.32015/JIBM/2019-11-2-10

Keywords: ICT, agriculture, North Macedonia

Abstract

The agricultural industry is very important part of each economy. The main driver of global demand for agricultural products over the next decade will be increasing of population. The fact that the agriculture has to meet the growing needs of food production makes this sector very essential. However, intensifying of food production is more difficult nowadays because of the great impact of climate change, water scarcity and enlarging of land deficiency. The urgent need for increased farm production on less land with less water through further intensification is, therefore, very important. The research related to the acceptance of ICT in Agricultural Sector in Macedonia was done using literature review and semi structured interviews. A total of 40 (forty) Macedonian agricultural companies were invited to participate on this study. The results from this study revealed that three different components such as lack of awareness about the benefits, maturity of new technology including costs and lack of trainings and operational knowledge have been identified as challenges for the acceptance of ICT in Agriculture in Macedonia. For each component, the critical factors that are influencing the acceptance of ICT were identified. In conclusion, based on the research findings, a groundwork structure for ICT acceptance has been developed for Macedonian agricultural sector, which will help the agricultural stakeholders and ICT providers to determine the best way to move forward

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