Perception of Farmers towards Mobile Based Extension Agro Advisory Services in Nagaland, India

Abstract

The agricultural extension services in the North East region of India are not only hindered by limited resources and scarcity of trained staff at state & regional level but also by the remoteness of the villages. Many villages remain inaccessible particularly during monsoon, due to poor road connectivity. The major technology dissemination approach adopted so far had been the traditional direct interaction and field level practical demonstration at the community level. The facility of toll-free modern smart phone based information and communication technology (ICT) service has been started and is gaining momentum. An attempt has been made to collect the data from 200 farmers of Tseminyu district of Nagaland State based on proportionate random sampling (PPS) technique to know the impact of mobile based extension agro advisory services in the region. Majority of the farmer respondents had perceived ‘yield increase’ , and ‘information of new agricultural technology’ as the major benefits of using the mobile -based agro- advisory services.