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Subject: Agricultural Extension Education × Author: Gariya, Deepshikha × End date: 2022 × Start date: 2020 × Type: Thesis × Thesis Type: M.Sc ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    A study on utilization pattern of social media by the farming community of Garhwal division of Uttarakhand
    (G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2021-02) Gariya, Deepshikha; Amardeep
    Agriculture is the primary sector of economy which tends to make larger portion of economy in any developing nation. It is the pivotal sector for ensuring food and nutritional security, sustainable development, livelihood and for alleviation of poverty. India being one the largest producers of most of the agricultural crops but ranks very low in terms of productivity. In the report of NPC (2006) highlighted that the main constraint is the knowledge deficit among the farmers indicating the inefficiency of the farming system. The ratio of extension agents to farmer being 1:2879, it is imperative that currently Indian extension faces acute shortage of extension professionals. The main function of agricultural extension is to disseminate technology, knowledge and advice to the farmers. There are certain obstacles like inadequate budget for extension activities, low manpower, ever-growing population, old policies and administrative rigidity which extension professionals face. As statistics suggest, majority of the farmers still remain unreached. With the abilities of reaching large number of people individually and simultaneously, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are assuming a greater role in the extension work. Increase in mobile subscriptions in the last decade has increased the use of web based services and applications like web portals and mobile apps. Efforts are being made for ensuring dissemination of useful information to farming community through various media and methods. The potential of social media can be harnessed to minimize the information gap between the farmer and extension agents. Social media is the new upcoming area in agriculture therefore a study entitled “A study on utilization pattern of social media by the farming community of Garhwal division of Uttarakhand” was conducted. The study was conducted in Dehradun district of Garhwal through chit method. Kalsi block was selected purposively as it has maximum number of inhabited villages. Two villages were selected randomly from which a total of 100 respondents were selected. Analytical research design was used for the study and data was collected through pretested structured and open ended interview schedule. Data on socio-personal, psychological and communication characteristics, utilization pattern of social media and constraints faced by the farmers was collected. The findings revealed that majority of the respondents were in the middle age group that was 28-49 years. Majority of the respondents were seeking information through their smart phones. Cent percent of the respondents were using Whatsapp. Majority of the respondents preferred to use multimedia as a format. Whatsapp was preferred the most for sharing information to friends and relatives. Maximum respondents had medium level of extent of using social media for agricultural purposes. Majority of the respondents ranked WhatsApp first on the basis of preference of the application to use. There was positive and significant relationship between family annual income, attitude towards ICT, innovativeness and perception towards good agricultural practices with the extent of use of social media. Network issue and inadequate speed services were the foremost constraints faced by the farmers in utilizing social media.