3. Analysing ICT Usage of Hungarian Milk Producers and Milk Processors

Milk production and processing is one of the main agrofood sectors in Hungary. In 2016, the number of enterprises operating in milk production and milk processing sector was 741 and 80, respectively. Advanced information systems enable us to attain more and thorough data on their operation and performance and the analysis of these data is crucial for the evaluation of their situation in the sector. These data sets are important for monitoring and assessing the performance of different sectors. Hungarian Central Statistical Office provides multidimensional databases, while financial and additional information of more than half of the operating enterprises are available in EMIS database. As a complementary database, Institute of Applied Informatics and Logistics has prepared a questionnaire for survey the ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) usage characteristics of enterprises operating in the agro-food supply chain (producers and processors). The survey was conducted in the fourth quarter of 2017 and using structured questionnaire and responses are recorded by a market research company contacting the leaders or a management member of the enterprises. The sample has been selected by stratified sampling based on statistics of Hungarian Central Statistical Office (HCSO). Enterprise size based on staff employed and region at NUTS-2 level were the basis of sampling. Data set contains data about 500 enterprises operating in sectors related to agriculture and food industry (355 are operating in the production part, 145 in the processing part of the chain). 38 enterprises operating in the milk sector from the whole sample (28 belong to milk production and 10 to milk processing sector). The main objective of current article is to determine the difference between food producers and food processors, and separately between milk producers and milk processors regarding their evaluation of ICT devices in their partnerships an the internet-based solutions for certain business activities. Respondents assessed the importance of ICT on 5-point Likert scale relating to four business activities (communication; data storage and exchange, preparing documents; logistics; marketing). To determine the difference, two-sample t-test has been applied. Our results show significant difference only in the case of bulk sample, between food producers and food processors, in the evaluation of ICT devices for marketing purposes. The mean of scores given by food processors was significantly higher (Sig. (2-tailed)=0,0134 and t-value=-2,4829). There is no siginificant difference between milk producers and milk processors, however, the means of scores given by the latter for the importance of ICT tools were higher in the case of each four business activites.

DOI:

Hungarian Dairy Journal. 2018. 75 (2) 37-49.