Commercial Vegetable Growers’ Socio-economic Status on Usage of Social Media in Odisha, India

Abstract

Social media can be a fantastic agricultural intervention tool, providing dependable information and knowledge to farmers who are not yet addressed at the appropriate time. Extension must be implemented using the newest technology in a world where knowledge drives change in order to persuade and assist farmers. Social media is like a revolution in todays’ time in every aspect and sector resulting in why the study was made. The socioeconomic characteristics of the commercial vegetable growers of Khordha and Puri districts of Odisha was scheduled in order to determine the level of access, information towards their utility of social media for agricultural purpose. For this survey, 90 respondents in total were chosen at random. Pre-structured interview schedules were used to gather the data, and relevant statistical analysis was carried out to determine the respondents' socio-economic profile. The majority of vegetable growers, or 56.67% of the population, were found to be middle-aged; 60% of farmers had families of fewer than five people; 51.11 percent of farmers belonged to the general caste; and 36.67% had completed middle school. It was also discovered that majority (55.56%) of the respondents were marginal farmers with less than 2.5 acres of land, the majority (40.00%) had yearly incomes ranging from (50,000 to 100,000) thousand and 32.22 percent were members of only two organisations. In terms of extension contacts, the data revealed that agricultural input merchants were the most prevalent among vegetable growers, with majority of them (63.33%) having a medium level of extension contacts. 90% of farmers were classified as having a medium level of social media access.