Examining the relationship and predictors of farmer’s awareness on ICT tools in agriculture: A correlation and regression analysis

Abstract

Agriculture in India holds promise for leveraging Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to propel socio-economic development in rural farming communities. Information and communication have always been crucial in agriculture, guiding timely decision-making. However, farmers, particularly smallholders in developing countries, encounter obstacles in accessing, efficiently utilizing, and affording agricultural information. In this connection, a study was conducted in Karnataka to examine the relationship and predictors of farmers’ awareness on ICT tools in agriculture. In total 120 samples were considered for the study. The results reveal that, predictors like, Educational status, Information seeking behavior, Extension agency contact, Mass media exposure, Innovativeness, Possession of modern electronic gadgets, Internet usage, and Attitude towards e-media demonstrated a notable positive association with awareness at a one percent level of significance. Maximum R squared value is obtained when three independent variables viz., internet usage, information seeking behaviour and Perception of mobile phone in farming were included in the model (i.e., model 3). These variables together contributed to 60.10 percent.