Awareness of G2C services among rural farmers in Sagar, Madhya Pradesh: An analytical study

Abstract

G2C (Government to Citizen) information services under the e-Governance programme have become a focal area because this reflects the development of our country at grass root level. The present study has been carried out to analyze the different information need of farmers and their awareness of ICT and G2C services. It also attempts to study use of different G2C services offered by government and the challenges faced by the farmers in using these services. A survey was carried out in district of Sagar, Madhya Pradesh and 5 villages were randomly selected. Convenience sampling method was used for data collection. The findings of the survey bring to light that 93.3% of farmers perceive a need for information related to agriculture with 90% farmers indicating a regular need for information on crop diseases, pesticides, and compost fertilizers. But, only 32% farmers are aware of ICT based Agri-services and are using G2C information service. It was found that most of the citizens surveyed are not familiar with the services and their accessibility to the same is poor.