Linkages between Socio-demographic Factors and Utilization of ICT among Farmers

Abstract

The Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are significant in uplifting the lives of the rural small landholder farmers because of the challenges it has overcome in adopting the traditional agriculture. ICT contributes to the increase of the demand of novel approaches. It also assists in empowering the rural population through the availability of more natural resources, advanced agricultural technologies, efficient production plans, markets, banking and financial services etc. The role of ICT in agricultural sector is realized in this article. The current study was undertaken to analyze the socio-economic profile, communication behavior and the correlation between the same and the independent variables chosen in relation to the farmers with a structured interview questionnaire. The results showed that most of the respondents were between the middle age, had moderate level of education, small and marginal farmers category with moderate experience in farming and medium sized families. The most prevalent media had been mobile phones (98.33%), televisions (81.67%), and radios (74.67%), whereas mass media exposure, extension contact, information-seeking behavior, cosmopolitanism, and social participation were mostly of medium levels. Correlation results showed that education, extension contact, use of ICT, mass media exposure and information-seeking behavior were strongly and significantly correlated with the dependent variable whereas age was only significantly correlated but negatively. Social participation built a non-significant positive relationship. Some constraints were also discussed to avail ICT tools. The findings indicate that greater efforts toward education, better repair of contact, greater usage of ICT, and greater availability to credible information may help extensively in better realization of agricultural innovations. This evidence is worthwhile to policy makers and extension agencies to come up with specific interventions to satisfy the needs and communication trends of farmers.