Ngobi, Shadrack2026-09-212026-09-212026-09-21Ngobi, S. (2026). The utilization of mobile phones and market access among local chicken farmers in Nakigo sub county, Iganga district. [Unpublished undergraduate research report]. Busitema University.https://bdears.busitema.ac.ug/handle/123456789/9605Undergraduate Research reportThis study examined the utilization of mobile phones and market access among local chicken farmers in Nakigo Sub County, Iganga District, Uganda. Although mobile phone ownership and mobile money services have expanded rapidly across rural Uganda, the extent to which this technology has translated into measurable financial benefit for local chicken keepers, an enterprise dominated by small, frequent, cash-based transactions, had not been systematically documented. The study pursued three specific objectives: to identify the mobile phone-based services used by local chicken farmers for agribusiness purposes, to assess the factors that determine market access by local chicken farmers, and to determine challenges faced when using mobile phones for agribusiness purposes by local chicken farmers. A descriptive cross-sectional design combining quantitative and qualitative methods was adopted. A structured questionnaire was administered to 244 local chicken keeping households sampled proportionately across the four parishes of Nakigo Sub County using Solvin’s formula and simple random sampling, complemented by direct observation of handsets and mobile money agent proximity. Data were analysed in R using descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, correlation, probit regression, and multiple linear regression. Nearly all respondents (99.6%) owned a mobile phone, with mobile money (93.0%), voice calls (82.4%), SMS (59.0%), and social media (55.3%) the most widely used agribusiness services. The large majority of farmers (86.1%) reported that mobile phone usage had increased their poultry income, and market access, strongly predicted by smartphone ownership and Performance Expectancy, was significantly associated with higher phone-derived income. Farmers reported challenges faced while using mobile phones for agribusiness purposes as; high cost of Airtime/ data (36.6%), poor network connectivity (34.5%), lack of electricity (15.9%), lack of skills (13.0%). The study concludes that mobile phones have become an integral part of how local chicken farmers in Nakigo Sub County transact, save, and reinvest, even though the cost of handsets, airtime, data, and transaction charges, together with uneven digital literacy, continue to constrain fuller utilization. This study recommends targeted digital literacy training, deliberate promotion of smartphone access and affordable data bundles, reduce mobile money transaction charges for small agricultural businesses, and closer partnership among mobile network operators, financial institutions, and agricultural extension services to develope mobile based products appropriate to the local chicken sub-sector.enOther