Abstract:
Improved communication and access to information with the increased penetration of ICTs have led to the unprecedented capacity for the dissemination of knowledge and information which are considered as the major driving forces for contributing towards agricultural and rural development. In Meghalaya, about 79.9 per cent of the population are rural based and are dependent on agriculture and its allied activities. The agrarian economy of the state is faced with various challenges such as low agricultural productivity, undulating topography, transportation problems and lack of information access. In order to bridge the information gap and meet the needs of the farmers, the various ICT development interventions are being implemented in the state to ensure transparency and accountability of the information being delivered and also aid in development. This study was conducted in the Meghalaya state to find out the level of access, availability and usage of ICTs as well as its impact among the farmers and the constraints faced by the farmers in using ICTs. A total of 120 respondents who are enrolled for ICT projects were randomly selected in the study and interviewed using a pre-structured interview schedule. Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) software was used for analysing the data. The findings of the study showed that mobile phone was the most accessed and frequently used ICT tool. Mobile phones were widely used by the farmers for the purpose of communication with family and friends, contacting experts on real time basis for getting agricultural advisories and contacting middle-men for marketing of produce. For rural health, farmers also opined that mobile phone was useful in times of health emergencies. The presence of CSCs at the village level has been a boon to the few young educated farmers for educational purpose. The impact of ICTs on the awareness of the farmers was shown to be the highest for disease and preventive measures under rural health. The impact of ICTs was also recognized in terms of its knowledge enhancement particularly for pest and disease management of potato (Solanum tuberosum). However, since ICT development interventions were introduced recently and the extension approach is new to the farmers and since majority of the farmers has a lack of awareness and skill to operate ICTs, there are very few farmers (30%) adopting agricultural practices through the use of ICTs. The impact of time and cost saving was found that farmers reaped manifold benefits in terms of its time saved by 15.9 fold for agriculture, 8.6 fold for rural health and 1.1 fold for rural education while cost reduced through using ICTs to avail services for agriculture is 14.84 fold, 13.4 fold for rural health and 0.71 fold for rural education respectively through the use of ICTs when compared to the conventional extension system. Further, with few young educated rural people, the use of ICTs has also helped them in attaining skill development in basic computer courses and accessing educational materials. For income generation opportunity, around 39 per cent of the farmers reported to have better price realization through market price information and better marketing of produce through the ability to communicate efficiently to sell their products to identify market location, information on prices of commodities by contacting fellow farmer producers and market middlemen. The variable of age contributed significantly towards the impact of ICTs on time saving, skill development, and information reach and income generation opportunity since young farmers were mainly found to have increased usage and impact through ICTs. The variable of education contributed significantly onthe impact of ICTs in skill development while annual income had a significant contribution in the impact of ICTs on cost saving implying that farmers with better annual income were more likely to understand the importance of cost saving and were also reported to incur more cost saving through ICTs. Social participation had a significant relationship towards the impact of ICTs
on knowledge level, time saving, information reach and income generation opportunities. However, some of the major constraints faced by the farmers in using ICTs were lack of confidence in operating ICTs, erratic power supply, low network connectivity and lack of awareness of benefits of ICTs. Amongst the recommendations emanating from the study is the idea that more awareness cum- training programmes on ICTs should be encouraged among the farmers to increase their competence and skill in using ICTs for development.

Includes bibliographical references.