Data from survey about intention to adopt an agricultural mobile app and a choice experiment to make it more attractive, form Guanajuato, Mexico

In 2019, we conducted a survey through face-to-face interviews with farmers in the El Bajío region of Guanajuato using the GeoODK mobile phone app, an open-source tool. A database (2014–2019) of presumably active farmers in the innovation hub containing their corresponding municipalities was used to select the respondents in two stages. First, respondents that were connected to the hub were randomly selected from the mentioned database. In some cases, we learned that the farmer passed away or could not be reached after several attempts. Then, another farmer who connected to the innovation hub in the same municipality was surveyed. Two municipalities were removed from the sampling frame due to security issues resulting from increased drug-cartel activity in the region. The second stage of the sampling comprised farmers not connected to the innovation hub, in the same municipalities, approached at meeting points (while they were waiting in a queue) or before events in the region (e.g., association, presentation of agricultural products, etc.). Around one out of two non-connected farmers who were approached agreed to take the survey. Therefore, a similar number of non-connected farmers were approached and interviewed in the same municipalities. A total of 394 responses were obtained (205 from MasAgro-connected farmers and 189 from non-connected farmers), with no missing values. We obtained prior informed verbal consent from all respondents, and no personal data were gathered. Farmers were surveyed using standardized questions based on literature with sections covering general information and demographic characteristics, their history of use of mobile phones to access agronomic data and recommendations, and questions of the model used. Each construct was based on three to five items, as recommended. A total of 30 measurement items adapted from prior studies were carefully rephrased in the context of an agriculture-related mobile-phone app, with response selections on a seven-point Likert scale ranging from “Totally disagree” (1) to "Totally agree" (7). To investigate incentives for the farmers to use an agricultural advisory app in which they share their data, a Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) was designed, presenting respondents with a choice between two or more alternatives described by pre-established attributes. that simulate different configurations which the AgroTutor app could take when launched. Six attributes were identified (data input requirements, data-usage cost, access to trainings, access to shared data, replacing extension service visits). An efficient design with 24 alternatives was chosen and arranged into 12 choice sets with a comparison of 2 alternatives. These were then assigned into two blocks of six choice, respondents randomly allocated to the two blocks.