Exploring socio-economic and communication variables shaping farmers’ response to ICT-based agro-advisory services

Abstract

Rapid advancements in information and communication technologies (ICT) are transforming agricultural knowledge dissemination, offering scalable, timely, and location-specific advisories to smallholder farmers. The effectiveness of ICT-enabled agro-advisory services—including SMS alerts, mobile applications, interactive voice response systems, and video-mediated extension depends critically on farmers’ attitudes, which influence adoption, engagement, and translation of recommendations into practice. This study aimed to examine socio-economic and communication factors shaping farmers’ responses to ICT-based advisories in Eastern Uttar Pradesh. An ex-post facto design was employed with a stratified random sample of 384 farmers across major vegetable- and cereal-growing districts. Fourteen socio-personal and communication variables, including age, education, operational landholding, income, extension contact, mass media exposure, information-seeking behavior, and psychological attributes (achievement motivation, scientific orientation, innovativeness, economic orientation), were analyzed using structured interviews and descriptive statistics. Results indicated that the majority of farmers were middle-aged (42.89 ± 8.65 years), moderately educated, and operated marginal to small landholdings, with medium income and moderate extension and mass media exposure. Psychological readiness for adopting innovative practices was moderate. Findings highlight that socio-economic and communication characteristics substantially influence ICT engagement and adoption of safe agricultural practices. The study underscores the need for context-specific, participatory, and ICT-integrated extension strategies to optimize advisory uptake and enhance sustainable farming practices.