Factors associated with utilization of ICT enabled Village Information Centres by the dairy farmers in India: The case of Tamil Nadu

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.