Adoption of information and communication technology (ICT): A fairy tale in Bihar

Abstract

India is second most populous country in the world. Majority of its population lives in villages and their main occupation is farming. Agriculture contributes around 17 per cent of the total GDP, 65 per cent of Indian population lives mainly in its 600,000 villages. Farmers in India facing a lot of problems in maximizing the crop productivity because of experts/scientific advice on crop production and marketing is not reaching the farming community in a timely manner. With the fixed availability of land and water, higher agricultural growth can only be achieved by increasing productivity through effective use of the better technology; farmers also face high transaction costs and information constraints that limit optimal production and marketing choices. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have significant potential to solve these shortcomings, providing cost-effective communication that allows farmers to take advantage of previously untapped trade opportunities and to learn about previously unknown innovative practices. Since this is an era of information & technology, ICT has a great role in transforming our society. So, keeping these things in mind the present study was conducted in Samastipur district of Bihar to know that how far technologies are available and how far their implantation have been done and use more easily.