Utilisation pattern and perceived constraints regarding use of ICT tools among farm women in tarai region of Uttarakhand
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Date
2020-07
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G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand)
Abstract
With revolution in ICT sector and increase in the possession of ICT tools and devices, it has gained wide popularity. Its users are rising exponentially over years and ICT tools are being utilized for many purposes viz. information, education and entertainment. ICT tools can be effectively used as an agricultural information source because it has a potential to make communication more collaborative through discussions and involvement. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) include technologies that give access to information through communication (Khan et al., 2012). ICTs in agriculture have the potential to facilitate greater access to information that drive or support knowledge sharing. ICTs essentially facilitate the creation, management, storage, retrieval, and dissemination of any relevant data, knowledge, and information that may have been already processed and adapted. In order to make effective use of ICT tools into agricultural information services it is necessary to know the Utilization pattern of ICT tools i.e. Accessibility of ICT tools, Extent of use of ICT tools and purpose of use of ICT tools among farm women. ICT tools can be used as a source of exchanging agricultural information. Thus, a study entitled “Utilization Pattern and Perceived Constraints Regarding Use of ICT tools Among Farm Women in Tarai Region of Uttarakhand” was undertaken to know about utilization pattern of ICT tools including accessibility, extent of use and purpose of use of ICT tools for agriculture purpose and general purpose The study was conducted in Udhamsingh nagar purposively. Rudrapur and Kashipur were selected by random sampling method for the present study. From each block, two villages were selected randomly. Rudrapur block has total of 89 villages out of which Kolaria and Chhatarpur were selected; and Kashipur has 77 village, out of which Gopipura and Chandpur were selected randomly. Thus, a total of four villages were selected to collect the data from farm women. From each village respondents were selected by using PPS. (Probability proportional to size) sampling method. According to the population of villages, 10% proportionately respondents were selected. The total number of respondents was fixed as 120 keeping in view the total number of households in the village. Ten percent households were selected and a member from each of these 10 percent households were selected which approximately rounded off to 120. Pre tested interview schedule was administered to collect data from 120 respondents and statistical methods such as mean, frequency , standard deviation , percentage, Karl Pearson’s coefficient of correlation, mean weight score, testing of significance of correlation coefficient and Garett Ranking method were used to treat the data for meaningful interpretation. Findings of the study revealed that majority of the respondents were in the age group 33-55 years. Most of farm women had small and semi-medium land area holding. Majority of farm women belonged to medium category having 8 to 30 years of farming experience, low extension agency contact, have favourable attitude towards ICT tools based extension services, low social participation. Age, education, family size, annual family income, media ownership, social participation had significant relationship with the extent of use of ICT tools. This study may help the developers to improve services provided by ICT tools and to combat the existing gaps.