Factors associated with utilization of ICT enabled Village Information Centres by the dairy farmers in India: The case of Tamil Nadu
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Date
2013
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Abstract
In India, a large number of innovative initiatives in the area of Information and Communication Technologies
(ICT) have been undertaken by the government, non-governmental and private sectors to provide
Information Technology services to agrarian community. In spite of the number of projects oriented
towards the transfer of technologies through ICTs, still the acceptability and utilization of ICTs are very
low in the rural areas. Hence an attempt was made to identify the factors associated with utilization
of ICT enabled the Village Information Centre by the dairy farmers of Tamilnadu. The major Village Information
Centers established by Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (TANUVAS), M. S.
Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) and n-Logue communication representing Government, Non-
Government and Private Initiators respectively were selected purposefully for the study. A total of 270
respondents comprising of 180 users and 90 non-users of these centres constituted the sample for the
study. The data were collected by using well constructed pre-tested interview schedule. The multiple linear
regression analysis was applied to assess the factors associated with the VIC usage level in the study
area. The regression functions were fitted separately for the VIC usage level by the beneficiaries of the
three organizations and the pooled data for the overall beneficiaries in the study area. For the overall
VIC usage level, only two variables i.e., Land holding and the knowledge level of the farmers were significantly
associated with the VIC usage level at the 0.01 level of probability and the regression coefficient
for this variable was positively related to the VIC usage level. Herd size was significantly associated with
the VIC usage level at the 0.05 level of probability and the regression coefficient for this variable was positively
related to the VIC usage level. The variable, income of the farmers was significantly associated with
the VIC usage level at the 0.01 level of probability and the regression coefficient for this variable was negatively
related to the VIC usage level. The study concludes that the dairy farmers with higher land holding
size had bigger dairy herd size as well, which necessitate good knowledge on dairy farming so that exposure
to VICs is more than that of the other beneficiaries with lesser land holdings. Higher usage levels of
VIC information contribute to knowledge gain which in turn contributed to the effectiveness of VICs
among the beneficiaries irrespective of type of VICs initiatives.
Description
TNV_CEA_2013_98(81)
Keywords
Veterinary Science