E-readiness of Rural ICT Offices for Rice e-marketing in Rasht Township, Iran | Pripravljenost podeželskih IKT svetovalcev za e-marketing riža na območju mesta Rasht, Iran

English. Applying Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in different economic sectors, especially the agricultural sector is increasing in developing countries. Rural ICT offices in Iran have an important role in decreasing the digital divide by representing internet, post and bank services; however they are not yet active in agricultural services. The present study seeks to survey the electronic readiness of 68 rural ICT offices in the rural area of Rasht in Guilan province, in the northern part of Iran. A five-point Likert type scale questionnaire was prepared, to survey socio-cultural, legal, connection and back-up services indices. Results indicated that intention to adopt, and legal aspects, required development, but the socio-cultural index had a better situation in comparison with others, and receptivity to agricultural electronic commerce (e-commerce) showed a high percentage among respondents. So this points to the necessity of creating an integrated website for rural offices to represent agricultural services. Also, the level of education and age of managers did not show any significant influence on receptivity to e-commerce, but internet skills and farmers visiting the offices have been important factors in receptivity to e-commerce.

Slovenian. Uporaba informacijske in komunikacijske tehnologije (IKT) v različnih gospodarskih sektorjih, še posebej v kmetijstvu, se v državah v razvoju stalno povečuje. Podeželski IKT svetovalci imajo v Iranu pomembno vlogo v zmanjševanju digitalne pregrade tako, da posredujejo internetne, poštne in bančne usluge, niso pa še aktivni pri posredovanju elektronskih uslug za kmetijstvo. Predstavljena študija želi preučiti pripravljenost 68 podeželskih IKT svetovalcev v območju provinc Rasht in Guilan v severnem Iranu. Pripravljen je bil vprašalnik s petstopenjsko Likertovo lestvico s katerim smo ocenjevali kulturno-sociološke, pravne, povezovalne in podporne storitvene kazalnike. Rezultati kažejo, da namen za sprejetje storitev in pravna vprašanja zahtevajo dodatni razvoj, medtem ko imajo kulturno- socialni kazalniki, v primerjavi z ostalimi, višje vrednosti, kar velja tudi za sprejemljivost elektronsko trgovanje v kmetijstvu. To nakazuje potrebo po oblikovanju celovite spletne storitve za kmetijstvo, ki jo bodo podeželski svetovalci lahko uporabljali. Stopnja izobrazbe in starost podeželskih svetovalcev ni pokazala nobenega statistično značilnega vpliva na njihovo pripravljenost za elektronsko trgovanje, obratno pa velja za poznavanje interneta in pogostnost obiskov kmetov.