Mobile agricultural extension delivery and climate-smart agricultural practices in a time of a pandemic: Evidence from southern Ghana

During the Covid-19 era, Ghana's cocoa sector relied heavily on mobile phone agriculture for extension delivery services, aiming to enhance climate-smart agricultural activities and overcome physical limitations. However, there is limited literature on the role of mobile phones in extension delivery during the pandemic. The study investigated the effectiveness of mobile phone agriculture in extension delivery and its relationship with climate-smart agricultural practices in Ghana's cocoa sector during the pandemic. The study selected 152 community extension agents in the Ashanti Region. The cross-sectional data was estimated using frequencies, percentages, means, standard deviations Pearson, Point Biserial, Spearman rho, and ordinary least squares regression. The result indicates a positive correlation between mobile phone agriculture extension delivery and climate-smart agricultural practices. Additionally, there was a significant relationship between climate-smart practices and factors such as knowledge, skills, frequency, and intensity of phone use. However, years of experience and age showed a negative relationship. The findings showed that funding, knowledge of use, and years of experience as influential factors in climate-smart agricultural activities facilitated by mobile phone extensions. To reach un-derserved cocoa communities, the Ghana Cocoa Board must enhance the capacity of community extension agents. Countries considering an intensive adoption of mobile phone agriculture for innovative extension ser-vices in climate-smart agriculture should consider factors like knowledge, skills, duration, frequency, and financial investments in acquiring, converting, applying, protecting, and distributing climate-smart agricultural information. The study contributes to mitigating the negative impact of climate change through the application of climate-smart information in agriculture.