Knowledge level of dairy farmers obtaining information from digital and traditional media in Andhra Pradesh

Abstract

Using various information sources, this research aimed to assess the dairy husbandry knowledge level of dairy farmers. The research was carried out in six villages that were chosen at random from the Andhra Pradesh districts of Visakhapatnam, Prakasam and Chittoor. Twenty dairy farmers were selected at random from each village and divided into two groups of ten according to their exposure to conventional and digital media. Farmers who primarily rely on digital media, such as WhatsApp and YouTube, for information were placed in the digital media group, while others were placed in the traditional media group. The sample consists of sixty farmers who utilize traditional media and sixty farmers who utilize digital media. Only 8.33 percent of digital media farmers and 31.67 percent of traditional media farmers had low level of knowledge on feeding practices, while most of the digital media (91.67%) and traditional media (76.67%) farmers had medium level of knowledge on breeding practices and the majority of digital media (60.00%) and traditional media (40.00%) groups had a medium and low level of knowledge on healthcare and management practices, respectively. Overall, the majority of those exposed to digital media (75%) and those exposed to traditional media (63.33%) had a medium dairy husbandry knowledge level.