ICT usage by farm women: Access and preferences

Abstract

Agriculture is the mainstay of Indian economy and women play an important role in it. The trends in global markets greatly influence the agricultural practices and decision making at local level which has transformed agriculture largely into an information driven enterprise. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) holds huge potential in dissemination of agriculture related information to rural masses for their capacity building. ICT has emerged as a major tool for rural development as it may effectively be used to address issues like agriculture, education, entertainment, health, animal health, news and many more. However, timely access to the critical information is a challenge for rural masses in general and rural women specifically due to various constraints. The present study was conducted in Ropar district of Punjab to examine the usage of various media means by rural women, factors affecting the access to information and their preference of ICT means for obtaining agricultural and non agricultural information. The results revealed that socio economic status of rural women has largely influenced their access to information. Further, mobile phone was the most preferred mean for accessing information by farm women irrespective of the land holding. However, television and radio were the two most preferred media means adopted by farm women to obtain agriculture and non agriculture related information. Appropriate training and awareness programmes should be promoted to farm women by using ICT tools.