Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia
Abstract
This study describes an assessment of attitudes of farmers from the Lanja tehsil of Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra in order to understand the information seeking behavior and reasons for the farmers seeking this agricultural information through different sources. To meet the objective of the study, a structured questionnaire and interviews were conducted to gather information on number of aspects related to the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) from 100 randomly selected framers. Additional semi- structured questionnaire and checklist was provided to the key stakeholders. The farmer based questionnaire sought demographic data, information requirement data and uses of ICT data. Key stakeholders were also asked similar information and information related to their job position, their work experience and what further knowledge they would require to improve their work performance. This paper reports on the analysis of demographic data, educational qualification, family background, income range, land ownership, use of ICT, source of getting information, belief on the sources of getting the information and the information required by the farmer. The study provides an insight into information needs of the villagers and their attitudes to whether the information may facilitate better decision making about their agricultural activities
