Use of Smart Phones by Farmers as a Tool for Information Support in Agriculture

Abstract

Intensity of information needed in agriculture is at an increasing pace and access to information has become the fundamental issue to be addressed. However, smart phones have the potential to narrow down the information gaps in agriculture. Therefore, the present study was conducted to assess the information utility of smart phones. The study was carried out among paddy growing farmers of Erode district of Tamil Nadu. Data on access to smart phones, period of smart phone adoption, its use for information support in agriculture and utility against other agricultural information systems used by farmers were collected using face-to-face interview method. Results revealed that smart phones were widespread among the farmers. Smart phones ranked fifth among the ten identified components of farmers'agricultural information systems regarding the information utility with improved information score due to its high frequency of utilization.