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2. Assessment of extension agents' perception of mobile phone usage for communication with farmers in Edo South of Edo State, Nigeria
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Alakpa, S. O. E. (author), Afolabi, S. O. (author), and Ighalo, I. J. (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2019
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 122 Document Number: D11147
- Journal Title:
- International Journal of Environment, Agriculture and Biotechnology
- Journal Title Details:
- 4(2):430-435
- Notes:
- 6 pages., ISSN: 2456-1878, via online journal., The use of mobile phones as means of communication between the extension agents and local farmers in Edo South was examined to determine the perception of the extension agents on its effectiveness. Fifty-one (51) respondents were obtained through random sampling using questionnaires to obtain relevant information in the two local government areas; Ovia North East and Ovia South West selected for the study. The result obtained indicated that male extension agents were in majority (72.5%), 54.9% of the sampled population above 45 years of age and 58.8% possessed 16 – 20 years working experience. Phone calls and short message service (SMS) were found appropriate for agricultural information dissemination. Significant and positive relationships were established between the working experience of extension agents and their perception of mobile phone usage. The recommendation is that formal integration of mobile phone into extension activities be done to enhance wider coverage, reduce cost and risks associated with movement. Extension agents and farmers need more training on effective usage of SMS and phone calls for interaction on farm related issues. Enforcement of existing telecommunication laws could reduce network failure and also enhance effective usage.
3. Feasibility of using mobile phones as an educational medium in agricultural extension services in Guilan Province, Iran
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Allahyaria, Mohammad Sadegh (author), Atashi, Maryam Ranjbar (author), and Dunn, Emily Shea (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2018
- Published:
- Taylor & Francis
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 18 Document Number: D10476
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Agricultural & Food Information
- Journal Title Details:
- 19(2): 129-140
- Notes:
- 13 pages., via online journal., This study examined the feasibility of the use of mobile phones as an educational tool in agricultural extension services in the Guilan Province of Iran. A descriptive-survey methodology was employed on a sample population of 120 agricultural extension agents. Data were analyzed at descriptive and inferential levels using SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 20 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). The results of the factor analysis indicated that the application of mobile phones in extension activities was influenced by three factors: economic, skill, and infrastructure. These factors accounted for 52.3% of the variance. Moreover, the possibility for the development of mobile phones as an educational medium is impacted by social, financial-credit, information-communicational, psychological, and improper conditions factors that, in total, captured 70.4% of the variance.
4. Small town in the Internet society: Chapleau is no longer an island
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Collins, Jessica L. (author) and Wellman, Barry (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2010
- Published:
- Canada
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 6 Document Number: D10207
- Journal Title:
- American Behavioral Scientist
- Journal Title Details:
- 53(9) : 1344-1366
- Notes:
- Via online UI subscription
5. Analysing appropriation and usability in social and occupational lives: An investigation of Bangladeshi farmers' use of mobile telephony
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Dey, Bidit Lal (author), Newman, David R. (author), and Pendergast, Renee (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2011
- Published:
- Glyndŵr University
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 102 Document Number: D10915
- Journal Title:
- Information Technology & People
- Journal Title Details:
- 24(1):46-63
- Notes:
- 28 pages., via online journal., The purpose of this paper is to understand how Bangladeshi farmers interact with mobile telephony and how they negotiate the resulting difficulties. In doing so the paper identifies how farmers integrate mobile telephony into their daily lives and what factors facilitate and limit their use of mobile telephony
6. Mobile based information communication interactions among major agriculture stakeholders: Sri Lankan experience
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Dissanayeke, Uvasara (author) and Wanigasundera, W.A.D.P. (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2014-01
- Published:
- Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 78 Document Number: D10817
- Journal Title:
- The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries
- Journal Title Details:
- 60(1): 1-12
- Notes:
- 12 pages., via online journal., This study explores the status of mobile usage among the agriculture community in the North‐Central province of Sri Lanka in relation to interactions with major agriculture stakeholders. The objectives of the study were to study the factors affecting the mobile use by farmers, farmers' willingness to receive agricultural information through mobile communication technology, and awareness on mobile based agriculture information systems. Primary data were collected at two stages using two structured interview schedules (N=390, n=65). According to the findings the access to mobile phone was considerable higher among the study group while age and education had an effect on using a mobile phone. Only a few farmers have yet started using them efficiently for agriculture and other commercial purposes. A considerable number of farmers used the mobile phones to contact input suppliers, buyers, agriculture extension officers and other farmers in the area, mostly those who represent community based organizations.
7. Awareness and use of information communication technologies by farmers in Oyo State, Nigeria
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Fawole, O. P. (author) and Olajide, B. R. (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2012-01-01
- Published:
- Taylor & Francis
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 18 Document Number: D10484
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Agricultural & Food Information
- Journal Title Details:
- 13(4): 326-337
- Notes:
- 13 pages., via online joural., Due to inadequate personnel, information communication technologies (ICTs) have become an attractive option for delivery of extension information. This study examined awareness and use of ICTs by farmers in Oyo State, Nigeria. A total of 192 farmers were interviewed. Results indicate that most farmers had no formal education and small farm holdings. Awareness of older ICTs like radio and television was more prevalent among farmers as compared with newer ICTs such as Internet and cable television. However, use of modern ICTs like mobile phones and cable television was greater than that for older technologies such as fax machines. Farmers were constrained in ICT use by prohibitive cost and service failure. The Nigerian government should encourage a liberal policy for affordable prices for modern ICT products, especially mobile telephones.
8. KrishiPustak: a social networking system for low-literate farmers
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Ferreira, Pedro (author), Gupta, Nakull (author), O'Neill, Jacki (author), and Cutrell, Edward (author)
- Format:
- Conference paper
- Publication Date:
- 2015-03
- Published:
- ACM New York, NY, USA
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 102 Document Number: D10907
- Notes:
- 12 pages., CSCW '15 Proceedings of the 18th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing, via online database, ACM Digital Library., With the wide penetration of mobile internet, social networking (SN) systems are becoming increasingly popular in the developing world. However, most SN sites are text heavy, and are therefore unusable by low-literate populations. Here we ask what would an SN application for low-literate users look like and how would it be used? We designed and deployed KrishiPustak, an audio-visual SN mobile application for low-literate farming populations in rural India. Over a four month deployment, 306 farmers registered through the phones of eight agricultural mediators making 514 posts and 180 replies. We conducted interviews with farmers and mediators and analyzed the content to understand system usage and to drive iterative design. The context of mediated use and agricultural framing had a powerful impact on system understanding (what it was for) and usage. Overall, KrishiPustak was useful and usable, but none-the-less we identify a number of design recommendations for similar SN systems.
9. Impacts of distance education on agricultural performance and household income: micro-evidence from peri-urban districts in Beijing
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Guo, Jianxin (author), Jin, Songqing (author), Chen, Lei (author), and Zhao, Jichun (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2018-10-30
- Published:
- Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 12 Document Number: D10422
- Journal Title:
- Sustainability
- Journal Title Details:
- 10(11)
- Notes:
- 19 pages., Article 3945, Via online journal., Information communication technology (ICT) has changed the traditional agricultural extension service mode worldwide. This paper examines the effects of the Rural Distance Education Project (RDEP) on the household income, agricultural productivity, and off-farm employment of farmers in peri-urban areas in Beijing. Using the survey data of 783 randomly selected farm households from 54 villages in three Beijing peri-urban districts in 2014, and the propensity score matching method (PSM), we find that the RDEP has a significant and positive effect on agricultural productivity and input use. Meanwhile, the program’s effects are heterogeneous across districts and households. For example, the RDEP has significant impacts on several outcome indicators, such as agricultural labor productivity (at a 5% level of significance), agricultural land productivity (at a 10% level), and input use intensity (at a 1% level) in Tongzhou (an agriculturally more important district, with a more intensive RDEP usage), but none of these effects is significant in Pinggu district. Furthermore, the RDEP is found to have bigger, and statistically more significant effects, for households with junior high school education than for those with either lower or higher than junior high school education. Furthermore, the RDEP is more effective for households with more assets than those with fewer assets. These results point toward the importance of using a rural distance education program as an effective extension service, and the need to take community and individual characteristics into account in the implementation and design of future programs.
10. Radio and mobile phone ownership or access by smallholder farmers of eastern Uganda and its potential use for push-pull technology dissemination
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Hailu, Girma (author), Khan, Zeyaur R. (author), Pittchar, Jimmy O. (author), and Ochatum, Nathan (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2017
- Published:
- ESci Journals Publishing
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 123 Document Number: D11158
- Journal Title:
- International Journal of Agricultural Extension
- Journal Title Details:
- 5(2)
- Notes:
- 10 pages., via online journal., A baseline survey of ownership or access to radio and mobile phone was conducted in seven districts of eastern Uganda in 2015. The purpose of this survey was to assess the role of radio and modern communication technologies to promote push-pull technology as an integrated management approach to control striga and stemborer and improve soil fertility. The selected districts are where icipe is currently disseminating the technology. The survey was conducted from seven districts where 30 respondents from each were identified for the study. Semi structured questionnaires were administered where data including household demography, ownership and or access to radio and mobile phone was collected. The data were analyzed using STATA (version 13). The findings show that there are over eight (Ateso, Luganda, Samia, Japadhola, Lugisu, Lusoga, Kiswahili, and English) languages spoken in the surveyed districts. Most of the respondents speak more than one language. Overall, ownership of radio and mobile phone was at 82% and 87% respectively with slight differences between men and women. Moreover, those who do not own radio and mobile phones also stated that they have access to one. On average, 83% of the respondents (174 out of 210) said that they do receive text messages, whereas, only 53% of the respondents indicated that they also send text messages. A great proportion of the respondents (91%, 80%, and 77%) received agricultural, weather and market information through the radio. Over 65% of the respondents reported benefiting from the agricultural programs broadcasted via radio. 45 and 50% stated that they benefitted from market and weather information. However, the level of benefit rendered from mobile phones with regard to agricultural, market and weather information was negligible. The study showed that radio and mobile phones are best suited mass communication media to transfer technologies such as push-pull to address cross-cutting problems such as striga, cereal stem borer and low soil fertility. It will strengthen the agricultural extension service delivery at large.
11. Converging free and open source software tools for knowledge sharing in smallholder agricultural communities in Sri Lanka
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Jayathailake, Chandana (author), Jayasinghe-Mudalige, Udith (author), Perera, Rohana (author), Gow, Gordon (author), and Waidyanatha, Nuwan (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2017
- Published:
- Italy: Italian Agency for Development Cooperation
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 12 Document Number: D10351
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Agriculture and Environment for International Development
- Journal Title Details:
- 111(2) : 351-359
- Notes:
- 9 pages., Via online journal., In a world where the notion of ‘sharing of knowledge’ has been gained much prominence in the recent past, the importance of information and communications technologies (ICTs) to promote sustainable agriculture, especially when combined with mobile and open source software technologies is discussed critically. On this rationale, this study was carried out to explore the applicability of the concept of converging ‘Free and Open Source Software (FOSS)’ to promote sustainable knowledge sharing amongst the agricultural communities in Sri Lanka. A multi-stage community consultative process with a set of designated officials (“Sponsors”) and a series of semi-structured questionnaire survey with a cross section of smallholder agriculture farmers (n=246), were carried out in the Batticaloa, Kurunegala and Puttalam districts to gather the baseline data. This was followed by a number of field experiments (“Campaigns”) with the farmers (n=340) from same geographical areas. The two FOSS, namely: (1) “FrontlineSMS” for ‘Text Messaging’ and (2) “FreedomFone” for ‘Interactive Voice Responses’, were applied to evaluate the effectiveness of knowledge sharing within the farming communities. It was found that FOSS intervention increases the ‘Text messaging’ and ‘Voice Call’ usage in day-to-day agricultural communication by 26 and 8 percent, respectively. The demographic factors like age and income level of the farmers has positively influence on the knowledge sharing process. And also the ‘Mobile Telephony’ was the most extensive mode of communication within the communities. The outcome of analysis, as a whole, implies that, with a fitting mechanism in place, this approach can be promoted as a “drive for positive changes” in agriculture-based rural communities in developing countries like Sri Lanka, and those in South and East Asia with similar socio-economic and cultural perspectives.
12. From telephones in rural Oaxaca to mobile phones among Mixtec farm workers in Oxnard, California
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Jimenez, Carlos (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2017
- Published:
- USA: SAGE Journals
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 152 Document Number: D10148
- Journal Title:
- New Media & Society
- Journal Title Details:
- 19(12) : 2059–2074
- Notes:
- 16 pages., Via online journal., Indigenous Mexican immigrants (Mixtecs) from rural Oaxaca, Mexico, experience a high level of isolation and seasonal farm work, but the increasing speed of communication technology stands to overcome these difficulties. For farm workers, the initial experience of landlines and public pay phones was filled with anxiety and missed connections. Despite the benefits of mobile phones, their adoption was delayed among Mixtec in Oxnard, California, because of a combination of legal status, high cost, and seasonal work. This article finds that a surge in mobile phone adoption and use took place during a time where production of labor-intensive crops like strawberries increased throughout California, farm worker settlement patterns matured, and mobile phone plans changed becoming more affordable and easier to understand. The widespread adoption of mobile phones brought more predictability to the informal agricultural job market for farm workers, but this did not necessarily mean higher wages in the strawberry fields.
13. Mobile phone usage for accessing agricultural information in southern Ethiopia
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Kaske, Deribe (author), Mvena, Zebedayo S. K. (author), and Sife, Alfred S. (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2018-01
- Published:
- Taylor & Francis
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 18 Document Number: D10492
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Agricultural & Food Information
- Journal Title Details:
- 19(3): 284-298
- Notes:
- 16 pages., via online journal., This study was conducted in Ethiopia to determine the use of mobile phones in agriculture. The study included 320 household heads who owned mobile phones. Data were collected using an interview schedule. The results revealed that the majority (90.6%) of household heads made phone calls for agricultural purposes. Over three quarters (85.9%) of the household heads received phone calls related to agriculture. Short message service (SMS) was poorly used. It is concluded that mobile phones are playing an important role as an informational medium. Therefore, the Ministry of Agriculture in Ethiopia needs to develop a mobile-based agricultural information dissemination system to enhance information delivery to rural farming households.
14. Farmers' use of mobile phone for accessing agricultural information in Pakistan: a case of Punjab province
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Khan, Nasir Abbas (author), Qijie, Gao (author), Ali, Shoukat (author), Shahbaz, Babar (author), and Shah, Ashfaq Ahmad (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2018
- Published:
- Pakistan
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 133 Document Number: D11378
- Journal Title:
- Ciencia Rural
- Journal Title Details:
- 49 : 10, e20181016,
- Notes:
- 12 pages., Online via Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). 12 pages., Authors focused on use of mobile phones in accessing agricultural information by farmers in the Punjab province. Major uses involved market information, plus other kinds of agricultural information. Major constraints involved farmers' limited aptitude for use of mobile phones and lack of awareness of information sources.
15. The power of information: the impact of mobile phones on farmers' welfare in the Philippines
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Labonne, Julien (author) and Chase, Robert S. (author)
- Format:
- Research paper
- Publication Date:
- 2009
- Published:
- Philippines: Sustainable Development Network, Social Development Department, The World Bank
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 127 Document Number: D11237
- Notes:
- Via online. Policy Research Working Paper No. 4996. 24 pages., Authors explored the impact of access to information on poor farmers' consumption. Results indicated that farmers purchasing a mobile phone experienced larger growth rate per capita consumption over the 2002-2006 period. Estimates ranged from 11 percent to 17 percent.
16. Social networking of innovative farmers through WhatsApp messenger for learning exchange: A study of content sharing
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- M.S. Nain (author), Rashmi Singh (author), and Jyoti Ranjan Mishra (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2019
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 121 Document Number: D11070
- Journal Title:
- The Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences
- Journal Title Details:
- 89(3)
- Notes:
- 3 pages., via online journal., Farm Innovators are regularly exchanging information and their experiences using WhatsApp messenger on their mobile phones. Most of the content shared was knowledge intensive with a mix of personal farming experiences. As Social constructivist learning theory seeks to improve socialinteractions to construct and share knowledge and the social networking through WhatsApp has proved to be potential to construct knowledge. Learning being the outcome of interactions between cognitive and psychological and the WhatsApp being the potential source for socialization and internalization promoted the creation ofsocial wealth in the form of discussion forums of Innovative farmers for learning exchange. The extension mechanism for purposeful farmer to farmer learning exchange has been created which in turn is a step towards innovative farmer led extension delivery mechanism. The potential of not only WhatsApp but other social media need to be exploited to bring location specific and commodity oriented transformative changes in the agriculture extension delivery system. The experimentation with innovative farmers is not only helping in scaling the farmers’ innovations but also institutional innovations at large. As all human resources (labour, management, innovation, creativity) are products of social relationships, no one can reach maturity without the help of personally caring people, including their families, friends, neighbors, and communities. Farms and agricultural enterprises also depend on the ability of people to work together toward the common goal of ecological, social, and economic sustainability through social networks.
17. Improving agricultural productivity and markets: the role of information and communication technologies
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- McNama, Kerry (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2009-04
- Published:
- USA: World Bank
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 8 Document Number: D10320
- Journal Title:
- Agricultural and Rural Development Notes
- Journal Title Details:
- 47 :1-4
- Notes:
- 4 pages., Via online journal., Raising the productivity of smallholders is a necessary condition for increasing incomes and improving livelihoods among the rural poor in most developing countries. This increased productivity is essential to both household food security and to agriculture-based growth and poverty reduction in the larger economy. Smallholder productivity is limited by a variety of constraints including poor soils, unpredictable rainfall, and imperfect markets, as well as lack of access to productive resources, financial services, or infrastructure. Information and communication technologies (ICT) are also vitally important to commercial and large-scale agriculture, and to agriculture-related services and infrastructure such as weather monitoring and irrigation. This note focuses on the sometimes less-obvious importance of ICT in improving the information, communication, transaction, and networking elements of smallholder agriculture in developing countries.
18. Access and application of information and communication technology (ICT) among farming households of south east Nigeria
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Nnenna, Ezeh Ann (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2013
- Published:
- Science Hub
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 101 Document Number: D10886
- Journal Title:
- Agriculture and Biology Journal Of North America
- Journal Title Details:
- 4(6):605-616
- Notes:
- 12 pages., via online journal., Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) usage in Nigeria has gone a long way but despite its existence, there seems to exist limited access and utilisation of the technologies among farmers in south-East Nigeria. Consequent upon this, the study analysed the access and application of information and communication technology (ICT) among farmers of South East farmers, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling technique was employed in selection of 240 Farmers for the study. Primary data were collected with the aid of a well-structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were employed to achieve objectives i, ii, and iii. The result of the analysis showed that 62.50% of farmers were males and married (84.17%) with average household size of 7 persons. Also, majority (45.42%) of the farmers completed primary education. Further analysis revealed that although many ICT facilities exist; radio, television and phones sourced personally from open market were the most readily available ICT facilities owned, accessed, and utilized by most farmers. Consequently, the level of access and utilization of these facilities were found to be generally low among the respondents as the mean access (1.2) and utilisation (1.8). The result further showed that information on physical farm measurement (2.6), how to estimate farm output (2.7), new varieties of seeds and seedling (x=2.6), best planting techniques (x=2.6) and use of fertilizer (x = 2.8) were the identified major areas extension agents applied ICTs in facilitating agricultural activities by extension agents as use of fertilizer (x = 2.5) was the major area ICTs facilitated agricultural activities for the farmers. Based on the findings, the study recommended the strengthening of the use of contemporary ICTs (phones, internet, etc.) rather than conventional ICTs such as radio and television, provision of adequate training on the use of ICTs for farmers, and extension agents and other agricultural stakeholders.
19. Use of communication sources by the women beneficiaries of RDRS in income generating activities
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Rashid, Md. Mamunur (author), Mondol, Md. Abu S. (author), Rahman, Md. Sadekur (author), and Noman, Md. Rubayet F. (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2015
- Published:
- ESci Journals Publishing
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 122 Document Number: D11155
- Journal Title:
- International Journal of Agricultural Extension
- Journal Title Details:
- 3(3): 187-194
- Notes:
- 10 pages., via online journal., The main purpose of this study was to categories and describes the profile characteristics of the women beneficiaries, to determine the use of communication sources by the women beneficiaries, and to explore the relationship between the profile characteristics of the women beneficiaries of RDRS with their use of communication sources. Data were collected using interview schedule from a sample of 112 women beneficiaries selected from the population of 280 by multistage random sampling procedure from five villages of Rajendrapur union under sadar upazila of Rangpur district. Use of communication sources by the RDRS women beneficiaries was determined on three dimensions viz. attitude, contact and application, and finally the use of communication sources index (UCSI) was computed. The UCSI ranged from 45.24 to 277.68 with a possible range of 0 to 300. Based on UCSI, among the 10 communication sources the first five communication sources were husband (277.68), neighbours (219.05), RDRS-worker (205.95), RDRS group meeting (193.45) and relatives (160.42). However, the last five communication sources were RDRS officer (134.82), mobile phone (112.80), television (68.75), inputs dealer (63.99) and SAAOs (45.24). The findings revealed that the highest proportion (38.39%) of the women beneficiaries had medium use of communication sources compared to 33.93% low use and 27.68% high use. Among the ten selected characteristics of the women beneficiaries’ education, farm size, annual income, daily time use, credit received and participation in IGAs showed positive significant relationship while fatalism showed negative significant relationship with their use of communication sources. Age, family size and dependency had no significant relationships. The women beneficiaries of RDRS had moderate exposure with various communication sources so, the concerned Government Organizations and Non-government Organizations engaged in extension activities should make necessary arrangements for improving the use of communication sources by them in income generating activities.
20. An Attempt towards structuring agricultural information using WhatsApp as query redressal social media platform
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- S., Mohan Kumar (author), Suman, Saurabh (author), Kulkarni, Umakanth P. (author), and N.H., Siddalingaswamy (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2019-06
- Published:
- Verizona Publisher
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 123 Document Number: D11161
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Robotics and Mechanical Engineering Research
- Journal Title Details:
- 3(1)
- Notes:
- 6 pages., via online journal., ICT has been initiated and implemented effectively by the public private partnership, government, researchers and various Institutions. Availability of wireless service, Internet and mobile communication have forced ICT to find foothold in daily routine of the Indian farmers. ICT has huge impact in agricultural development but still in natal stage. Many farmers are not availing the actual potential of ICT due to poverty, social constraint, illiteracy, language barriers and unwillingness to adopt new technology. Many Indian farmers have reported positive change in income, quality of produce and timely access to the market information by using latest mobile application. WhatsApp is the most popular and easy to use Mobile Instant Messaging service amongst the Indian farmer. It supports sharing of localized information and utilizing these services as query redressal public platform. This paper is an attempt to gather meaningful agricultural data for analysis and filtering of relevant need based information assessment. The main focus of the present work is to develop an automatic information handling and redressal of the need based agricultural information system using WhatsApp as social media platform.