Relationship between farmer profile and ICT Tool utilization among cotton growers in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra

Abstract

The study aimed to examine therelationship between farmer profile and ICT tool utilization among cotton growers in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra. The study was conducted in Parbhani district selecting two talukas Parbhani and Gangakhed and three villages from each, totaling six villages, with 120 respondents randomly selected. Data were collected through a well-structured interview schedule and analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and Pearson’s correlation coefficient. According to findings of the study, majority of the respondents (69.17%) fell into the middle age group, educated up to middle school (53.83%), had marginal landholdings (57.50%), medium annual income (80.83%), medium social participation (80.00%), used medium information sources (70.83%), had medium extension participation (64.17%), medium risk preference (96.67%), medium knowledge of ICT (83.33%), and moderately favourable attitude towards ICT (81.67%). Correlation analysis showed that education, social participation and ICT knowledge had a positive, highly significant relationship with ICT tool utilization; annual income, information sources, extension participation, risk preference, and attitude towards ICT showed a positive, significant relationship; age had a negative, highly significant correlation, while landholding showed a positive, non-significant correlation.