Utilization of selected Information Technology Enabled Systems (ITES) by agricultural extensionists of Kerala (original) (raw)
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JOURNAL OF EXTENSION EDUCATION, 2019
The study analyses the training needs of farmers and agricultural extensionists of Kerala, India on selected Information Technology Enabled Systems (ITES) such as web browsing, agricultural portals, agricultural expert systems, digitized databases and on line trading in agriculture. Computer literate farmers and agricultural extensionists from the districts of Thrissur, Idukki and Malappuram of Kerala consisting of 300 farmers and 120 agricultural extensionists were the respondents of the study. Training on agricultural portals was identified as the highest training need among both farmers and agricultural extensionists. The study points to the need of imparting IT oriented training to both farmers and agricultural extensionists which would enable them to get right information at the right time for the overall development of agriculture.
2015
Data on the factors affecting the level of familiarity and usage of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) were collected using a pre-tested on-line questionnaire from the Agricultural Extension Scientists (AESs) working in State Agricultural Universities and ICAR Research Institutes of North India. A sample of 154 respondents was selected on the basis of probability proportionate sampling technique. The Duncan’s Multiple Range Test (DMRT) showed that there was a significant difference between groups received ICT training and untrained group in familiarity with ICT. The results of Pearson's correlation coefficient showed that time spent on use of ICT by AESs exhibited a positive and significant relationship with their ICT familiarity. The results also indicated that ICT training and ICT familiarity were significantly and positively associated with each other. Age of the AESs was negatively but non-significantly associated with their ICT familiarity and usage.
Agriculture Update, 2018
The present study was carried out in four districts of Karnataka state during 2016-2017 to identify the factors influencing the utilization of information and communication technology tools by agricultural extension functionaries. Eighty Agricultural officers and Assistant Agricultural officers from Mysuru, Hassan, Tumukuru and Mandya districts formed the sample of the study. The results revealed that education, job experience, achievement motivation, innovative proneness, job involvement, e-readiness, organizational climate, mass media utilization, accessibility to ICT tools and training on ICT tools of agricultural extension functionaries were found to be having significant to highly relationship with their extent of utilization of ICT tools. All the 14 personal, socio-economic, psychological and communication characteristics of agricultural extension functionaries put together have contributed to the tune of 74.50 per cent variation in the extent of utilization of ICT tools. The results of the path analysis revealed that training on ICT tools, accessibility to ICT tools and education had direct, indirect and largest indirect effects on the extent of utilization of ICT tools by agricultural extension functionaries.
JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, 2018
The development of agriculture plays a prominent role in a nation's economy, more so in the case of developing countries of the world. In India, agriculture is considered the backbone of the economy. Given the diversity of agro-ecological conditions across the country and the wide range of producers (small, and medium, large), the Indian agricultural enterprise is inevitably faced with a great diversity of needs, opportunities and prospects. With information being identified as a crucial component of the agricultural value chain, there is an urgent need to devise strategies which will enable improved access to such information as well as facilitate the exchange of information between stakeholders. Many impact evaluation studies reveal that the public-sector extension services despite using a variety of extension programs have not seen much success because they lack technological integration. Studies show that agricultural productivity is considerably influenced by human capital consisting of agricultural and rural extension programs. Thus there needs to be increased emphasis on involving all the stakeholders such as policy makers, educators, scientists, extension personnel in research, development and technology transfer activities and regular training of educators/researchers/extension personnel in SAUs and officers of the agricultural development departments in the use of ICTs. In this regard there is a need to probe into the factors that influence the current usage pattern of ICT among the educators and scientists involved in extension. This research paper makes an attempt to study the same. This study is concentrated in the Northeastern region (NER) of India as the region reportedly lags behind in technology implementation and adoption by farmers.
Study on use of information and communication technology by extension personnel of Bihar
International journal of Home science, 2020
In the last 50 years, Indian agriculture has made huge strides, showing single resilience in being a major contributor to Indian economy. Now it is widespread having agreed that sound agricultural development is necessary for most developed countries overall economic results. Agricultural production depends to a large extent on good research framework for need-based and demand-driven technologies in accordance with efficient transfer of technology programme to liaise researchers with extension staff together with end users. India has undergone significant changes in the framework of agricultural extensions since the start of the 21st Century. The goal of many countries, where ICT has increased significantly in the agricultural extension provide adequate access to agricultural information through medium. If extension staff use ICT efficiently and effectively, it will their work is simpler and, in addition, enables their distribution of information. ICT allows them analyze data, prepare work plan and budgets, and easily reach farmers. Grass root state level extension activities are largely based on the Agriculture coordinators and Kishan Salahkar. Since we know this is the digitalization age, the basic aim of the study is analyze the use of ICTs by the Agriculture coordinator and Kishan Salahkar, who are separate identified as the agriculture para-extension worker. In order to carryout their job effectively and successfully, the agriculture coordinator and kishan salahkar must have awareness, e-readiness and positive attitude towards use of ICT tools, proper training and availability of ICT tools which makes them competent and fast in carrying out their duties in the work.Based on the present study, it can be inferred that one of the respondents did not have adequate ICT training, the majority of respondents expressed low ICT infrastructure and other resources and low e-readiness level and faced different constraints in the use of ICTs. To prevent problems and enhance the e-readiness of extension staff, it is therefore important to provide proper training and proper care and management of the use of ICTs. Introduction The world is moving quite rapidly. The changes are evident in every aspect of life, It is politics, culture or economy and one of the most important change drivers in the technology. Information is important for technology growth. Information consists of the compilation of facts collected by different means of communication and plays a critical role in the Fast-growing generation. At the same time, technology allows quick and quick collection of information fast. Information and technology together have developed a new division called Information Technology (IT). IT requires data processing on a network. That's it. can be achieved by using the hardware, software, facilities and support infrastructures manage the knowledge and distribute it. IT has dramatically changed our everyday lives over the recent years. ICT is an acronym that can be commonly defined as communication and Processing technologies that facilitate communication and the processing and transition of information by electronic means. Kumari Navarathne (2003), described ICT as recording, processing, storing, electronically communicating information on a digital medium. It makes an efficient and cost-effective movement of information items, individuals, and resources across national and regional borders. Rajashri (2008) [5] , ICTs can play a significant role in making information available at fair cost to the farming community. Raj et al. (2016) [4] , stated that the slogan of agricultural extension and education is to transfer information related to scattered and often anecdotal research lessons to specific individuals, ICT has emerged very quickly and widely adopted by the future generation of India. Therefore ICT holds great promise for the transition of the agricultural sector.
Information and communication technology tools used by agricultural extension functionaries
Indian Journal of Economics and Development, 2018
Objective: To analyse the extent of utilization of Information and Communication Technology tools (ICTs) by agricultural extension functionaries. Methods and statistical analysis: Eighty agricultural officers and assistant agricultural officers from 43 Raitha Samparka Kendras (RSKs) in four Southern districts of Karnataka were interviewed during 2016-2017. A pre-tested interview schedule was used to collect the information on the extent of utilization of ICT tools by the respondents for seeking and dissemination of agricultural information. The collected data was analysed using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation and multiple regression analysis. Ex-post-facto research method was employed in the study. Findings: Majority of the agricultural extension functionaries (70.00%) were belonging to medium to high category of extent of utilization of ICT tools. All the agricultural extension functionaries were ‘Very frequently ‘using smart phone, while a majority of the agricultural extension functionaries were using ‘Very frequently’ landline phone (88.75%), desktop computer (68.75%) and laptops (57.50%). The software/apps used ‘Very frequently’ by majority of the extension functionaries were SMS (98.75%), WhatsApp (65.00%) and Ms Word (65.00%). A larger number of agricultural extension functionaries were ‘Very frequently’ using Google Chrome (43.75%) and Yahoo (40.00%) search engines for seeking and disseminating agricultural information to the farming community. All the 14 personal, socio-economic, psychological and communication characteristic of agricultural extension functionaries selected for the study have contributed to the tune of 74.50 per cent of variation in the extent of utilization of ICT tools.
Asian Journal of Agricultural Extension, Economics & Sociology, 2018
The present study was conducted during 2016-17 to assess the knowledge of agriculture extension functionaries regarding Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools. Eighty Agriculture officers and Assistant Agriculture officers were interviewed from 43 Raitha Samparka Kendras in four Southern districts of Karnataka state of India. Data was collected from the agriculture extension functionaries during the bimonthly meetings held in the District Agricultural Training Centres (DATCs) of the respective districts. The collected data was scored, tabulated and analysed using frequency, percentage, standard deviation, chi-square test and multiple regression analysis. The results revealed that three-fourth (75.00%) of the agriculture extension functionaries were having high and medium level of overall knowledge regarding ICT tools. It was also found that 72.80 percent of the variation in the knowledge of agriculture extension functionaries regarding ICT tools was explained by the 14 personal, socio-economic, psychological and communication characteristics of agriculture extension functionaries.
Factors encouraging ICT usage by agricultural extension scientists in North India
Journal of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, 2014
ICTs can be used to increase effectiveness and efficiency of extension system. So, in this era of information revolution, the agricultural extension Scientists should be encouraged to use ICTs for extension education. Therefore, the study on "Factors encouraging ICT usage by Agricultural Extension Scientists in North India" was conducted. Factors encouraging ICT usage were categorized under the headings of economic factors, facilitating factors, social and psychological factors and technical factors. Data for the study were collected from the agricultural extension scientists who work in State Agricultural Universities and research institutes under Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in North India through the use of a pre-tested on-line questionnaire. Provision of grants to buy ICTs, availability of sufficient number of ICT tools, sufficient ICT familiarity and expertise and in-service training facilitation for using/producing ICTs were observed as serious factors in the effective usage of ICTs. The Duncan's Multiple Range Test (DMRT) result showed that in usage of ICT there was a significant difference between economic factors with facilitating factors and social and psychological factors. Enabling policies and plans for usage of ICTs for dissemination of agricultural information need to be developed.
The Challenges of Utilizing Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Agriculture Extension
International Journal of Scientific Research in Science, Engineering and Technology, 2015
The use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in agriculture and rural development has surged in the past decade. Growing attention has focused on the contributions of these technologies to agriculture and rural development. ICT includes computers and communication technology along with associated software. The activities of generating, processing, transmitting, disseminating, sorting, archiving and retrieving information constitute the information industry. Innovation in ICT to an increase agriculture production and helps farmer’s in decision making in growth of their crops. ICTs have the potential to reach many farmers with timely and accessible content. But the content that the ICTs deliver has more relevance if it is localized and context specific, as this improves the value and action ability of the information, which can have important impacts on farm management. In this paper covered challenges of utilizing ICT in agriculture extension, as ICT took initiate man...
2017
The present study explored the constraints and suggestions perceived by the KVK scientists for effective utilization of ICTs in agricultural extension activities. The study was conducted in KVKs of Rajasthan and Gujarat states. Responses from the 87 respondents from scientific staff of KVKs were collected through mailed questionnaire. It was revealed that the lack of expertise to use ICT, slow functioning of internet, lack of trainings related to ICT use, lack of awareness among the farmers regarding ICT use for educational and agriculture purpose were the major constraints in ICT use. All these constraints can be overcome by implementing suggestions by respondents like; proper and improved infrastructural facilities at KVKs as well as village level, skill development and updating with trainings, creating awareness regarding use of ICTs for educational and agricultural purpose.