UTILIZATION OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES BY THE FARMERS

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) can help farmers access the information they need. Nowadays, an array of ICTs tools and projects are available not only in urban areas but in rural areas also. However effective utilization of ICTs for accessing agricultural information by the farmers is the major concern as generally, people use them more for entertainment and time passing. To what extent the farmers are using the ICTs in accessing agriculture information is fundamental for redesigning the agricultural development projects integrating the ICTs. Keeping this in view, the study was undertaken to ascertain the extent of the use of ICTs for accessing agricultural information by the farmers of South Gujarat. The study was carried out in the Valsad and Navsari districts of Gujarat for 120 farmers. Multistage random sampling was adopted for the selection of respondents. An Ex-post-facto research design was used for the study. Results of the study indicated that the majority (62.50 percent) of the respondents had a moderate level of extent of utilization of ICTs followed by 19.17 and 18.33 percent of them had high and low extent of utilization, respectively. Out of the 14 factors studied, education, extension participation, training received, mass media exposure, information source accessibility, innovativeness, social participation, and economic motivation were found positively and highly significantly correlated with the extent of use of ICTs.