Agricultural Related Information Research Articles

Consumption Pattern of Information and Communication Technology in Agriculture: A Study of Jaipur District

The study was conducted in Girdharipura and Mehla villages of Jaipur district of Rajasthan. The study analyzes how ICT is used for agricultural information in rural regions and evaluates the information and relationship between various ICT tools and farmers. In this research, we used a sample size of 100 farmers with a random selection of 50 farmers from Mehla village and 50 farmers from Girdharipura village, all between the age group of 20 and 55 from June 2021 to December 2021. ICT holds huge potential in the dissemination of agriculture-related information to rural masses for their capacity building. Thus, ICT is rightly hailed as a potentially useful tool for agricultural reforms. Farmers often engage in numerous forms of media consumption and do not limit themselves to a single one. This study suggests that farmers engage in various media consumption such as electronic media, folk media & print media, and ICT tools for agriculture purposes, and weather information. Mehla village was using more electronic media than Girdharipura.

The Utilisation of Social Media for Accessing Farming Information by Progressive Farmers

Background: It is more prominent in developing and under-developing nations where large number of populations resides in a rural area with agriculture as their main source of livelihood. Agricultural research, education and extension are critical components to increase productivity and fulfil the demands of an expanding population. Under India’s current extension delivery system, knowledge or information is vital for improving productivity. Digital advancement and social media have gained importance as technical leap leading to various software’s and applications making life easier, mankind can access various civic services, has led to two-way communication making system more accountable, sensible, responsible, a tool in curbing corruption. People, particularly progressive farmers, are using developing social media like WhatsApp, YouTube, Instagram as various platform of social media. India is an agrarian country and social media is helping in imparting knowledge and information to our farmers about recent technological developments such as hybrid seeds, irrigation methods, soil testing in farming. Methods: Narrative textual case study technique was used (NTCS). We used social media to gather information. Social media is making farmers and other people aware of sustainable use of resources. Result: Researchers have seen social media as more beneficial in obtaining agriculture-related information and putting digital knowledge into practice than other sources of information.

Benefits, barriers, and use of cover crops in the western United States: Regional survey results

Cover crops provide known benefits to water, air, and soil quality. The western United States is a large cropping region where data on cover crop use are lacking. In this study, we draw on data from a 2020 survey of western farmers from 13 states and territories to broaden the understanding of current cover crop use and the factors that influence cover crop adoption. We examine cover crop use through farmer and farm characteristics, social networks and information access, and psychological measures of attitudes toward cover crops. Based on the results of the 894 survey responses, we find most respondents use or have used cover crops and recognize their many benefits. The highest ranked benefits of cover crops, according to cover crop users, are soil health benefits and reducing soil erosion. The biggest perceived barriers to cover crops, according to cover crop users and nonusers, are costs and knowledge. The greatest predictor of cover crop use in the western United States is larger farm size; however, as income increases, the odds of cover crop use decreases. Farmers who access agriculture-related information on a regular basis and western farmers who perceive more benefits than barriers to cover crops are more likely to use cover crops. This study informs future research, outreach, and policy through insight into motivations and barriers to cover crop use and factors that influence adoption for farmers in the West.

Content Analysis of Agricultural Information Dissemination by the Indigenous Language and National Print Media in Nigeria: Implications for Effective Communication

The study conducted content analysis of indigenous and national newspapers (NP) published between 2014 and 2015 with respect to agricultural information disseminated to stakeholders in agriculture. Both purposive and stratified sampling technique was used to select Akede and Alaroye as the indigenous and the Nation and Punch as NPs because of their popularity and coverage in Nigeria. A total of 384 newspapers were used for this study. Results showed that the newspapers featured less of agricultural related information despite the fact that the available agricultural information was carried in form of hard news (5.7% and 81.7%), features (7.3% and 91.7%), photography (4.7% and 50.0%), opinion issues (2.1% and 64.1%), and advertisement (1.6% and 56.2%) for indigenous language and national newspapers respectively. Also, information such as employment in agriculture-related (4.7% and 52.6%), health issues related to agriculture (6.2% and 53.1%), crop production (5.7% and 52.1%), animal husbandry (4.7% and 51.6%)for indigenous language and national newspapers respectively among others were the commonly featured news. Only 6.8% and 80.2% of the indigenous and National newspapers allotted column inches ranging from 0.00-7.0 to agriculture. About 6,8% and 60.4% and 4.7% and 58.9% of indigenous language and national NPs targeted the general audience and Male farmer for disseminating agricultural information. Significant difference existed in the agriculture information featured between the indigenous and national newspapers with an F-test value of 44.882 at p= 0.01; indicating that national newspapers featured agricultural news more than the indigenous ones. It was recorded that limited space was allocated to the few available information on agriculture in the sampled newspapers. It was concluded that agricultural news were not adequately disseminated in the dailies especially the local dailies that farmers mostly have access to. It was recommended that agriculture-related information should be published on the platforms where the target audience can access for effective communication

Factors affecting farmers’ decision to participate in various agricultural related information sources in Ethiopia

Information communication technology is energetic for rural transformation and plays a great role in agricultural development. However, there are factors affecting farmers’ use of information. This study focused on determinants of various agricultural information sources. Household survey from 165 respondents and multi-stage sampling techniques were used. Multivariate probit model regression output shows that social participation and distance are significantly related with the use of all information sources at different significance levels. Age, extension contact, education, sex, credit access, land size, non/off-farm income and farm income are significant with the use of different information sources at different significance levels. The Wald test (χ2 (56) = 101.39, p = 0.000) is significant, which indicates that MVP model fits the data. LR (χ2 (6) = 232.942, Prob > χ2 = 0.0000) indicates the goodness of fit of the model. For more use of agriculture-related information, Ministry of Agriculture and NGOs need to intervene in rural agricultural programs.

Paddy farmers' knowledge, perception, and satisfaction on the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools in Nepal

Information and communication technology (ICT) tools such as radio, television, mobile phone, the internet, computers are gaining momentum in the development discourse of the agriculture sector in Nepal. In agriculture extension, ICT tools fill the void that traditional agriculture extension cannot address. So, this study aimed at assessing the paddy farmers' knowledge, perception, and satisfaction on ICT tools in Jhapa, Kapilbastu, and Kailai districts following a multistage purposive sampling method. A survey research design was used for the study. Pretested semi-structured interview schedule was employed to randomly selected 390 sample respondents. Descriptive statistics along with the appropriately developed scales were used in the data analysis. The findings revealed that respondents were moderately aware (0.44) of the significant roles of ICT tools. Respondents do have more knowledge on the radio (0.87), TV (0.85), and mobile phones (0.76), whereas the majority possess TV (94%), radio (93%), and mobile phones (88%) among ICT tools. Farmers from Bardiya were more aware of the roles of ICT as compared to other study districts. Likewise, Radio and TV were the primary ICT tools used for agriculture-related information. Respondents had high skills in using radio and TV for information but poor skills in using the computer in all study districts. Most of the respondents positively perceived (0.14) ICT tools and were satisfied (0.23) with them, but their use was limited to radio, TV, and mobile phones. In addition, farmers of Kapilbastu districts were less satisfied with the use of ICT tools as compared to other study districts.

A Study on Farmers’ Perception about Uzhavan App in Select Districts of Tamil Nadu

ICT provides more facilities to farmers by introducing agricultural mobile apps and encourage the farmers for effective farming. These mobile apps provide agriculture related information to farmers in timely and cost effective manner. The present study is carried out to find the farmers perception on uzhavan app which is developed by Government of Tamil Nadu. More than 5 lakh farmers have registered in this app and get various benefits. The uzhavan app has been used by many farmers in gaining more information about agricultural activities. Respondents revealed that dissemination of information through the uzhavan app is valuable and user friendly. The major challenges faced by the farmers were network problem mainly during the ATMA training registration, lack of price details of few commodity and in minor problem time consumes to use all services, app is quite difficult to use due to poor content visibility. From the study, it has been found that majority of farmers had good perception about the uzhavan app and they are satisfied with the features that support them in farming and they also expect some other features need to be integrated in uzhavan mobile app. The uzhavan app provides real time market price of some agricultural commodities and it has greater impact in selling farmers produce at fair price in mandis. Meanwhile, the features of e market online platform helps farmers to connects directly with traders and sell their produce at good price. The availability of farm guide in app provides information regarding fertilizer recommendations practices where most of sample respondents adopted recommended usage level and has positive impact in farming by increasing the yield of farmers.

ICT usage by farm women: Access and preferences

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.

FACTORS AFFECTING THE UTILIZATION OF INFORMATION & COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT): A CASE OF BADULLA & NUWARA ELIYA POTATO FARMING COMMUNITY, SRI LANKAFACTORS AFFECTING THE UTILIZATION OF INFORMATION & COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT): A CASE OF BADULLA & NUWARA ELIYA POTATO FARMING COMMUNITY, SRI LANKA

ICT upgrades farmer knowledge thus, enhancing overall production and marketing aspects in agricultural systems. However, transferring traditional farmers into new technologies in developing countries is a significant challenge. At present, there have been many ICT tools introduced to farmers in Sri Lanka. Thus, the central question is whether the agro-community is constructively utilizing these different ICT tools. Therefore, the objective of this study is to explore the factors which affect the overall usage of ICT tools of potato farmers in Sri Lanka and their perception of future use of ICT. Primary data was collected from 241 farmers randomly in Badulla and Nuwara Eliya Districts using a pre-tested questionnaire. Correlation analysis was deployed to elicit the relationship between selected socio-economic factors of the farmer and the number of ICTs those farmers have utilized. Results revealed education level (p<0.05, r = 0.659), average monthly farm income (p<0.1, r = 0.352) and number of crops cultivated (p<0.05, r = 0.851) by farmer were positive and significant with the number of ICT appliances used by the potato farmer. Age (p<0.05, r = -0.7432) and years of experience engaged in agricultural activities (p<0.05, r = -0.254) were negative and significant with the number of ICT appliances used by the potato farmer. Further, 60% of farmers have used the internet once a week to gather agriculture-related information. Another, 13% have used GPS and only 1% have used e-mail. Even though there have been numerous ICT tools, still ICT literacy of local farmers was still not up to a satisfactory level. This implied Sri Lankan agriculture sector is not fully utilizing ICT in agriculture. Perhaps changing the way or mode of delivering ICT tools may cause a positive influence in agriculture. Rather than focusing on advanced ICT appliances and tools, it is recommended to exploit the full potential of current ICT appliances and tools to disseminate vital information. Consideration of farmer accessibility of different ICT appliances and tools is much important to decide the next step of agriculture modernization in Sri Lanka.

Grow Kisan: E-Agriculture App

Abstract: Web apps and services facilitate information, communication, entertainment, and leisure. Web apps have ushered in a new era. In India, information and communication technology (ICT) in agriculture is a relatively new subject aimed at increasing agricultural and rural output. It entails the development of novel ICT-based rural applications. Farmers can benefit from ICT innovation by receiving timely and accurate information and services, resulting in a more productive agricultural climate.This study offers a web-based tool for farmers that will help them with their agricultural tasks while also keeping them informed about new government programmes. “Grow Kisan” is a service that gives agriculture-related information to Indian farmers in rural areas who face financial and connectivity challenges. The concept makes use of existing government services and mobile services to deliver a solution to the current situation with the least amount of cost to the farmer. The application system provides customers with all of the information that is relevant for their own land, searches, on-line crop management, statistic profit summaries, a statistical summary of their land by cultivating a specific crop, and the FAO recommendation not to use water, but to use fertilisation to increase productivity; "Fertilization" With GPS and Web methods, the system allows effective land management, monitoring, and data supply. The device's interface is more "image-based" than "word based," whereby even analphabets will comprehend and utilise it. The initiative focuses largely on small landowners, who truly may do miracles if specific instructions are supplied for effective land management and knowledge on the crops most appropriate for their territory. Not only will the initiative offer the smallholder with a free callback service, but also some films and soundtracks to show how things are to be accomplished in the country. The most essential component is video conferencing since farmers may ask through video and demonstrate whether they have a problem with crops and soil. For example, how to apply a certain herbicide and how to seed the soil for improved production, etc. A mobile cloud service for responding to Tomato Diseases is a voice-based response technique (VBAT) that is designed for farmers to receive voice queries in their natural language utilising the keyboard for the use of mic or text inquiries. Via speech and text the user will get the appropriate responses. India's cellular subscribers are 900 million. Keywords: E-Agriculture, Crop information, E-commerce, weather prediction, Agro - assistant.

PROCESS IN DESIGNING PLURALISTIC EXTENSION APPROACH IN TRANSFERRING RICE AND RICE-BASED TECHNOLOGIES

Generally, the study was done to describe the process in designing a pluralistic extension approach in transferring rice and rice-based technologies The study used both qualitative and quantitative methods designs. Program implementers from PhilRice Isabela were taken as respondents for the Key Informant's Interview. The study employed a purposive sampling method wherein the whole population of interest was taken as respondents of the study. School-on-the-Air (SOA) has been a platform for development communication and extension workers in disseminating information on R&D technologies. However, limitations of radio as a medium of SOA have proved that this extension method does not translate to adoption. Study results showed that farmers have positive feedback with the program in general, however, the implementation of the Pluralistic Approach was not followed through as planned. The lack of a Development Communication practitioner was seen as the root cause of the problems encountered in the program. Moreover, although radio was perceived as effective, farmers still prefer training and interpersonal communication methods in getting agriculture-related information.

Utilization of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) Tools for Sharing of Agricultural Related Information in Osun State: Implications for Rural Information Needs

The study was motivated by the need to harness technological advancement to enhance agricultural production in Osun State. The study assessed the utilization of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) tools for sharing of agricultural related information in Osun State, Nigeria. The study illustrated the socio economic characteristics of the Respondent, identified the available ICT tools for sharing of various agricultural related information, identified agricultural related information shared through various available ICT tools, measured the frequency of utilization of the identified ICT tools and assessed the severity of challenges encountered by Respondent in the utilization of ICT tools in the study area. Sixty percent of Extension Agents in each of the three zones in the study area were sampled. The data collected were examined using descriptive statistics tools while regression analysis was used to test the significant relationship between the socio-economic characteristics of Respondents and their frequency of utilization of ICT Tools for sharing of agricultural related information in the study areas. The analysis of the data was carried out with the use of SPSS version 22. The findings revealed that the average age of Respondents was 39 years; more than half of the respondent (67.1%) were male; most (81.4%) of the respondent were married; majority (68.6%) of the respondent were Christian; about (70%) of the respondent had tertiary education. The mean household size was 5 members per household; majority of the respondents belonged to one association or the other and they access the internet with their own data plan. Radio (wms 2.7) was ranked first as most available ICT tools for sharing information in the study area. Furthermore, information on availability and sources of farm inputs (wms2.3) was ranked most shared information while information on storage facilities (wms1.0) was ranked the least shared information by the Respondents. Also, the initial cost of procurement of ICT gadgets, cost of maintenance, risk of theft of gadget, and fluctuating power supply were the major challenges encountered with the use of various ICT tools. Regression analysis identified a significant relationship between selected socio-economic characteristics of the Respondents and frequency of Utilization of ICT Tools for sharing Agriculture related information. The study recommended use of Radio as medium through which agricultural related information should be shared bearing in mind its ease of access, little cost of procurement and maintenance, extent of reach and frequency of usage among the respondents. Provision of access to internet facility was recommended in order to afford respondents a limitless right to use information on the World Wide Web. Finally, alternative source of power to enable respondents recharge their ICT gadgets was recommended to make up for unreliable electricity supply.

Adoption and Utilization of ICT Through Farmers.NG Technology in Ondo State, Nigeria

The study examined the Adoption and Utilization of ICT through Farmers.Ng Technology in Ondo State, Nigeria. A total of 86 respondents were used for the study; which were farmers who are registered with the company (farmers.ng) in Ondo state which were selected through Multi-stage sampling procedure. The socio-economic characteristics respondents revealed that majority (73%) of them were male. The mean age of the farmers was 51 years. Most (77%) of them were married, majority (69%) were Christians, a substantial majority (48%) had primary education, 62% of the respondents engaged in farming as their primary occupation and 61% had no secondary occupation. The average monthly income of the respondents was ₦58209; the average household size was 5 and 59% of the respondents were members of crop societies. The results of the hypotheses indicated that there was significant relationship between the socioeconomic characteristics and the adoption of the market solution technology. It also showed that there was significant relationship between the attitude of the respondents and the utilization of the market technology. Study recommends that the use of ICT should be facilitated amongst farmers by national governments and development partners to facilitate sharing of agricultural related information, knowledge and experiences.

Development of Agriculture Chatbot using Machine Learning Techniques

Agriculture data is a main source of country’s economic growth. It is important to provide agriculture related information to all the people who are involved in agriculture activities as and when required. This meaningful information is used by people who supply services to agriculture domain and to take some correct decision related to agriculture to apply for their field. The solutions to this problem are given by the efficient interaction of computer with human. Chatbot system provides ability to extract the exact answer to the queries posed by farmers. The proposed system is called as Agriculture Chatbot system or even it is called as Question-Answering system for agriculture domain, where farmer is asking the agriculture related question which fetches the precise answers for the asked questions by farmers in natural language and processes the query using RNN (Recurrent Neural Network) deep learning algorithm to extract correct answer.

Agri-Info: Cloud Based Autonomic System for Delivering Agriculture as a Service

ABSTRACT The Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing paradigms offer enhanced services for agricultural applications to manage the data efficiently. To provide an effective and reliable agriculture as a service, there is a need to manage Quality of Service (QoS) parameters to efficiently monitor and measure the delivered services dynamically. This paper presents a QoS-aware cloud based autonomic information system called Agri-Info for delivering agriculture related information as a service through the use of latest Internet-based technologies such as cloud computing and IoT which manage various types of agriculture related data based on different domains of agricultural industry. Proposed system gathers information from various users through preconfigured IoT devices (mobiles, laptops or iPads). It further manages and delivers the required information to users and diagnoses the agriculture status automatically. We have developed the web and mobile-based application and evaluated the performance of the proposed system in cloud environment using CloudSim toolkit based small scale environment. Results demonstrate our system yields in a reduction on 12.46% cost, on 15.52% network bandwidth, on 10.18% execution time and 13.32% in latency. Furthermore, a case study of an Indian village is presented to identify the customer satisfaction of farmers.

Identify Attitude and Perception of Farmers on Mobile Based Agriculture: Reuters’ Market Light (RML)

Farmers need dynamic information relating to agriculture and rural development. Therefore, to satisfy the need of information and knowledge, Reuters Market Light (RML) offers highly customized and localized agricultural related information service. RML provides information services via mobile phone-based Short Message Service (SMS) primarily aimed at farmers. The study was carried out in the Erode district of Tamil Nadu state. The results revealed that majority of the respondents had a strong positive attitude towards market and the respondents had a high level positive perception towards mobile phone with regard to farm information and technology transfer.

Farmers’ Perceived Effectiveness of the Growth Enhancement Support Scheme in Kogi State, Nigeria

The study determined farmers’ perceived effectiveness of the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) Scheme in Kogi State, Nigeria. A total of 120 scheme participants were purposively selected and interviewed from 12 communities across six local government areas. The results revealed that the majority of the respondents (85.8%) had access to agriculture-related information. The major crops grown in the area included maize (84.2 %), cassava (80.8%)and rice (48.8%). Respondents had a very high knowledge (80%) of the schemes’ activities and the major source of information on the scheme activities was extension agents (78.3%). Again, respondents percieved a few of the scheme’s operational processes, namely, the use of phone in information dissemination (x=2.21), registration process of the scheme (x=2.18), channels used for the sheme implementation (x=2.17), farmers’ sensitization process (x=2.04) and types of personnel used (x=2.02) as having high level of effectivessness. They were equally satisfied with some implementation processes of the scheme, namely, quality of seeds provided (x=2.15), level of subsidy provided by the scheme (x=2.05) and fertilizer distribution methods (x=2.00), among others. However, the major constraints to effective implementation of the scheme included untimely input provision (x=2.20), inability to still pay for the subsidized inputs by the farmers (x=2.31) and inability to purchase mobile phones (x=2.08). The study points to the need for early inputs provisions to farmers as farming operations are time bound. There is also the need to focus attention on encouraging more women to participate in the scheme in order to achieve its main objective of increased productivity and household food security. Keywords : food security, input supply, knowledge index, mobile phone

Constraints faced by extension officers of Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu in using Uzhavan app

Among the recent advancement in ICT and its application in agriculture, mobile apps have the potential to digitalize the world. Mobile applications which target the need of agricultural sector and its stakeholders such as farmers, input dealers, cooperation etc are known as mobile agricultural applications. A new mobile application named Uzhavan app was launched by Tamil Nadu government for disseminating agriculture related information to farmers. This paper deals with the constraints faced by the agricultural extension officers in using Uzhavan app. A well-structured interview schedule was used for collecting data. Uzhavan app was being used by cent per cent of the extension officers through smart phone. Extension officers frequently used market price and seed stock services of Uzhavan app for giving advisory services to farmers. The major constraints perceived by the extension officers while using Uzhavan app was that the information was not updated properly.

Geographic Information and Communication Technologies for Supporting Smallholder Agriculture and Climate Resilience

Multiple factors constrain smallholder agriculture and farmers’ adaptive capacities under changing climates, including access to information to support context appropriate farm decision-making. Current approaches to geographic information dissemination to smallholders, such as the rural extension model, are limited, yet advancements in internet and communication technologies (ICTs) could help augment these processes through the provision of agricultural geographic information (AGI) directly to farmers. We analysed recent ICT initiatives for communicating climate and agriculture-related information to smallholders for improved livelihoods and climate change adaptation. Through the critical analysis of initiatives, we identified opportunities for the success of future AGI developments. We systematically examined 27 AGI initiatives reported in academic and grey literature (e.g., organisational databases). Important factors identified for the success of initiatives include affordability, language(s), community partnerships, user collaboration, high quality and locally-relevant information through low-tech platforms, organisational trust, clear business models, and adaptability. We propose initiatives should be better-targeted to deliver AGI to regions in most need of climate adaptation assistance, including SE Asia, the Pacific, and the Caribbean. Further assessment of the most effective technological approaches is needed. Initiatives should be independently assessed for evaluation of their uptake and success, and local communities should be better-incorporated into the development of AGI initiatives.

English

Food security in Africa continues to be a big a challenge and one of the key constraints is lack of information on many facets of agricultural research and development to the key sector stakeholders. However, in recent years a wide range of Information Communication and Technology (ICT) platforms and mechanisms have been used across Africa in enhancement of exchange of agricultural related information for increased productivity and improvement of marketing of crops and livestock products. The purpose of the review paper was therefore to assess the nature, diversity and impacts of ICTs used in African agriculture and also highlight the key challenges hindering more widespread use of the technologies. A Kenyan case study has been used to typify the integrated nature of ICTs use in agriculture. The paper reveals that there is a very wide range of ICTs being used and these include web portals, mass media and different types of mobile telephone based services. Of all the ICTs, the radio service is the most effective in reaching a wide cross-section of agricultural research and development fraternity. It is evident that ICTs are making impact in increasing productivity and marketing of products but there are still several constraints including unconducive policy environment, insufficient communication infrastructure and inadequate farmer level capacities to use available ICTs. Public policy should therefore address these challenges and constraints within the sphere of rural development in general and agricultural productivity in particular. The review concludes that when mobile phones are combined with other ICT platforms such as mass media, the impact on agriculture is likely to be very high. Key words: Information Communication and Technology (ICTs), African agriculture, agricultural research and development, mass media, mobile telephones.