Livestock Science & Innovation Journal

Digital Literacy Challenges in Livestock Micro-Entrepreneurship: A Rapid Qualitative Study in Kuningan, Indonesia

Misbachudin Misbachudin — Thu, 25 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Backround: Despite increasing smartphone penetration in rural Indonesia, livestock micro-entrepreneurs face persistent challenges in leveraging digital technologies for business development, creating critical gaps between technology access and functional digital literacy that constrain economic opportunities.
Objective: This study investigates digital literacy challenges among livestock micro-entrepreneurs in Kuningan, Indonesia, examining capability deficits, underlying barriers, and business consequences to inform targeted intervention design.
Method: A rapid qualitative research design was employed over three months, conducting in-depth semi-structured interviews with 18 purposively-sampled livestock micro-entrepreneurs (poultry and cattle farmers) representing diverse demographics. Data collection integrated interviews, direct observation of smartphone usage, and literature review, analyzed through thematic analysis identifying patterns of digital literacy challenges and barrier categories.
Findings and Implications: Despite universal smartphone ownership, participants exhibited profound deficits across four dimensions: operational skills (88.9% lacked file management understanding), informational literacy (88.9% never checked online prices before selling), strategic competency (100% showed no proactive customer engagement), and safety awareness (94.4% vulnerable to phishing). These gaps emerged from intersecting factors including age, education, gender opportunity structures, training absence, and infrastructural constraints.
Conclusion: Business consequences included 18-27% revenue losses from intermediary dependency, preventable livestock mortality, and financial exclusion imposing higher lending costs. Digital literacy deficits impose substantial economic penalties that far exceed intervention costs. Effective inclusion requires multifaceted approaches addressing not just skills but also psychological barriers, institutional support systems, and infrastructural limitations.

Barriers to Implementing Organic Waste-Based Fermented Feed Practices Among Livestock Farmers in Kuningan, West Java

Fakhrana Ghaisani Nazhira — Thu, 25 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Backround: Despite proven technical efficacy and economic benefits, organic waste-based fermented feed adoption remains persistently low among Indonesian livestock farmers, with commercial feed costs consuming 60-70% of production expenses while abundant organic wastes go unutilized, creating sustainability and profitability challenges.
Objective: This study investigates barriers constraining fermented feed adoption among livestock micro-entrepreneurs.
Method: A three-month qualitative study employed semi-structured interviews with 23 livestock farmers representing diverse adoption statuses (non-adopters, discontinued, sustained), complemented by observations and document review.
Findings and Implications: Thematic analysis identified barrier categories and contextual adoption factors. Despite 95.7% awareness and 73.9% training attendance, only 21.7% achieved sustained adoption, with 30.4% having discontinued after attempting. Six interconnected barrier dimensions emerged: technical complexity (65.2% affected), knowledge deficits (60.9%), economic constraints (60.9%), time limitations (73.9%), psychological resistances (56.5%), and quality uncertainty (65.2%). Sustained adopters received intensive multi-session training with ongoing support, accessed reliable organic waste supplies, and benefited from active farmer group networks—factors largely absent for discontinued adopters and non-adopters. Villages with favorable institutional configurations achieved 40-50% adoption versus 0-5% elsewhere despite identical training.
Conclusion: Effective promotion requires comprehensive interventions addressing multiple barriers simultaneously through participatory training, sustained implementation support, farmer organization strengthening, and organic waste supply chain facilitation rather than conventional one-time demonstrations, with institutional development as critical as farmer education for scaling sustainable livestock feeding practices.