Vol. 12, Special Issue 9 (2023)

Author(s):
Bhagyalaxmi Sahu, Manjula N, KA Jahagirdar and Anil Kumar GK

Abstract:
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has become increasingly prevalent across various sectors. Information and communication technologies have power to significantly improve the standard of living of dairy farmers. Despite the ample opportunities for ICT in the dairy sector, there is still considerable ambiguity regarding its utilization and preference over the traditional methods. Keeping this in view, the present investigation was taken up to know the utilization and preference of ICT tools by dairy farmers. The study was conducted in Dharwad and Belgaum districts of North Karnataka, a sample of 120 farmers were purposively selected and interviewed with the help of structured pre-tested interview schedule. The data obtained was analyzed applying appropriate statistical procedure viz., frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation. The results indicated that great majority of the dairy farmer’s utilized mobile phone (89.16%) once a week. Further, majority of dairy farmers utilized dairy publications (87.50%), followed by television (65.00%) and Youtube (51.67%) once in a month. Whereas, use of internet (25.83%), newspaper (6.67%) and WhatsApp (4.16%) were least as compared to other ICT tools. The data also revealed that cent percent of the dairy farmers preferred television and mobile phone because it saves time, followed by more than 90.00% preferred it for its effectiveness and ease of operation. Whereas, WhatsApp, newspaper and dairy publications were least preferred ICT tools. The potential of ICT technologies should be used effectively by all the line departments of state like Veterinary and Animal Husbandry, Universities, KVKs, KMF and dairy cooperatives to deliver the expert knowledge to the dairy farmers.