Determining the Knowledge Level and Accessibility of Major ICT Tools by Farmers in Madhya Pradesh
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.48165/IJEE.2025.61417Keywords:
Accessibility, Agricultural knowledge, Awareness, Barriers, Financial benefits, ICTsAbstract
Information Communication Technologies are vibrant ways to significantly boost the agricultural sector by providing farmers with access to vital information, input availability, and online financial transactional services like DBT covering PM-KISAN Samman Nidhi, agri-input subsidies, and domestic gas subsidies. The study was conducted in 2024 to find out the major ICTs tools’ use, accessibility, knowledge level, and major barriers faced in use by collecting data from 150 randomly sampled farmers of Harda district of Madhya Pradesh. Data were collected by using a pre-tested structured interview schedule and analyzed with appropriate statistical tools. The majority of respondent farmers (68.45%) had a medium knowledge level about ICT tools. Education, annual income, social participation, mass media exposure, and extension contact expressed significant positive correlation with accessibility of major ICT tools among farmers. The major barriers were observed with Garrett’s ranking techniques. The farmers, especially young farmers, possessed the ICT tool like a smart mobile only for personal entertainment and interconnectivity, rarely using it to access agricultural knowledge for improvement. The backstopping of farmers to boost digital literacy for agricultural development and ICT adoption could be augmented by organizing educational campaigns and training.
Downloads
References
Anand, S., Prakas, S., & Singh, A. K. (2022). Determinants of ICT tools accessibility by farmers in Bihar. Indian Journal of Extension Education, 58(3), 186-189. http://doi.org/10.48165/IJEE.2022.58338
Chandra, S., Singh, A. K., Ghadei, K., & Pradhan, S. (2023). Exploring the relationship between socio-economic factors and ICT adoption among farmers. Indian Journal of Extension Education, 59(3), 54-57. http://doi.org/10.48165/IJEE.2023.59310
FAO. (2025). ICTs for sustainable agriculture: Technologies for agricultural information sharing (pp. 1-55). https://www.fao.org/4/i3557e/i3557e01.pd
Gangil, D., & Verma, H. K. (2018). Mobile phone use pattern of the dairy farmers of Punjab. Livestock Extension, 1(1), 72-74. https://epubs.icar.org.in/index.php/IJEE/article/view/106985/42116
Joshy, C. G. (2018). ICT application in fisheries. In A. Suresh, M. V. Sajeev, K. Rejula, & A. K. Mohanty (Eds.), Extension management techniques for up-scaling technology dissemination in fisheries (e-manual) (pp. 238-241). Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, Cochin, India. https://krishi.icar.gov.in/jspui/handle/123456789/20401
Kale, R. B., Meena, M. S., & Rohilla, P. P. (2016). Determining factors and level of e-skills among agriculture experts of Krishi Vigyan Kendras in India. Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology, 18(7), 1749-1760. https://www.sid.ir/en/Journal/ViewPaper.aspx?ID=540633
Kavaskar, M., & Sharmila, S. (2020). A Study on utilization of information and communication technologies by the extension personnel of state department of agriculture in Tamil Nadu. Plant Archives, 20(2), 1270-1272. http://www.plantarchives.org/SPL%20ISSUE%2020-2/201__1270-1272_.pdf
Kumar, S. (2025). Analyzing adoption impediments in soil health card based fertilizer application by farmers. Indian Journal of Extension Education, 61(2), 114-117. https://doi.org/10.48165/IJEE.2025.612RN04
Kumar, S., Singh, M., Singh, P., & Rohit. (2023). Utilization pattern of ICT tools by paddy growers in Uttar Pradesh. Indian Journal of Extension Education, 59(2), 135-137. http://doi.org/10.48165/IJEE.2023.59230
Kumar, S., Singh, S. R. K., & Sharma, R. C. (2015). Farmers’ attitude mapping towards kisan mobile advisory services. Indian Journal of Extension Education, 51(3&4), 145-147.
Lahiri, B., Anurag, T. S., Marak, B. R., Sangma, A. K., & Sangma, S. M. (2020). Development of Mobile based Fishery AdvisoryPrototype: An Experience with fisher tribes of garo hills in North-eastern Himalayan region of India. Indian Journal of Fisheries, 67(3), 10-17. http://doi.org/10.21077/ijf.2020.67.3.882
Lahiri, B., Borah, S., Marak, N. R., & Anurag, T. S. (2017). Development of mobile phone based agro-advisory system through ICT mediated extension approach in north-eastern himalayan region of India. Journal of Applied and Natural Science, 9(3), 1808-1814. http://doi.org/10.31018/jans.v9i3.1443
Lalthlamuanpuii, R., Lalngaizuali, & Jopir, J. (2024). A Case study on farmers’ literacy in agriculture information in Lunglei district, Mizoram. Indian Journal of Extension Education, 60(2), 17-21. https://doi.org/10.48165/IJEE.2024.60203
Mishra, A., Singh, J., Maurya, A. S., & Malik, J. S. (2021). Effect of socio-personal traits of farmers on their perception towards social media. Indian Journal of Extension Education, 57(4), 71-74. http://doi.org/10.48165/IJEE.2021.57416
Mishra, A., Yadav, O. P., Yadav, V., Mishra, S., & Kumar, N. (2020). Benefits of the use of ICT services perceived by farmers for acquiring agricultural information in central U.P. Indian Journal of Extension Education, 56(1), 86-89.
Mukherjee, S., & Jha, S. K. (2024). Utilization pattern of information and communication technologies among the farming community of West Bengal. Indian Journal of Extension Education, 60(1), 7-13. https://doi.org/10.48165/IJEE.2024.60102
Nain, M. S., Singh, R., & Mishra, J. R. (2019). Social networking of innovative farmers through WhatsApp Messenger for learning exchange: A study of content sharing. Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 89(3), 556-558.
Nirmalkar, C., Lahiri, B., Ghsoh, A., Pal, P., Baidya, S., Shil, B., & Kurmi, R. K. (2022). Perceived knowledge and attitude of fisheries extension professionals on usage of ICTs in Tripura. Indian Journal of Extension Education, 58(2), 58-64. http://doi.org/10.48165/IJEE.2022.58211
Panda, S., Modak, S., Devi, Y. L., Das, L., Pal, P. K., & Nain, M. S. (2019). Access and usage of information and communication technology (ICT) to accelerate farmers’ income. Journal of Community Mobilization and Sustainable Development, 14(1), 200-205. https://indianjournals.com/ijor.aspx?target=ijor:jcmsd
Patra, S., Mukhopadhyay, S. D., Raj, R. K., & Mishra, J. R. (2020). Perceived use of computer in extension activities by the extension officials. Indian Journal of Extension Education, 56(3), 83-87.
Ravikumar, K., Nain, M. S., Singh, R., Chahal, V. P., & Bana, R. S. (2015). Analysis of farmers’ communication network and factors of knowledge regarding agro-meteorological parameters. Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 85(12), 1592-1596.
Sandeep, G. P., Prashanth, P., Sreenivasulu, M., & Madavilata, A. (2022). Effectiveness of agricultural information disseminated through social media. Indian Journal of Extension Education, 58(2), 186-190. http://doi.org/10.48165/IJEE.2022.58244
Sharmila, S., & Kavaskar, M. (2017). Knowledge level of extension personnel on information and communication technology (ICT). Journal of Global Communication, 10(2), 91-95. http://doi.org/10.5958/0976-2442.2017.00016.7
Shashidhara, K. K. (2020). Use of ICT’s by extension personnel in dissemination of agriculture information in north eastern Karnataka. Indian Journal of Extension Education, 56(1), 78-81.
Shukla, G., Ansari, M. N., & Lal, S. P. (2024b). Assessment of agricultural information needs of farmers: Triangulating reliability of standardized information need index. Gujarat Journal of Extension Education, 36(2), 26-29.
Shukla, G., Ansari, M. N., Lal, S. P., Bandhavya, M., & Singh, P. (2024a). Role of mobile phones in enhancing farmers’ information-seeking behaviour: a binary logistic regression approach. Indian Research Journal of Extension Education, 24(4), 145-148.
Singh, D., & Mathur, S. (2024). Consumption pattern of information and communication technology in agriculture: A study of Jaipur district. Indian Journal of Extension Education, 60(1), 128-131. https://doi.org/10.48165/IJEE.2024.601RN2
Singh, S., Tanwar, P. S., & Sharma, A. (2023). Determinants for adopting ICTs by livestock farmers in Barnala District, Punjab. Indian Journal of Extension Education, 59(4), 157-160. http://doi.org/10.48165/IJEE.2023.59432
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
