M. Ramasubramanian1*, A. Anuratha2, V. Radhakrishnan3, M. Selvamurugan4, R. Jagadeesan5, M. Sabapathi6 and S. Kamalasundari7
1KVK, Madurai
2Soil Science, AC & RI, Kilvelur, Nagapattinam Dt.
3,4,5,6,7KVK, Needamangalam
Received-04.04.2022, Revised-17.04.2022, Accepted-29.04.2022
Abstract: A study on analysis of Effectiveness of Whatsapp platform in dissemination of pulse production technologies was taken up at KVK, Thiruvarur as part of an FLD among 45 pulse farmers as Experimental group and 45 pulse farmers as control group. A pulses whatsapp group was created and the whatsapp were given to Experimental group continuously throughout the crop period. The results indicated that the Experimental group has been found to score high in all parameters than the control group which could be inferred as the whatsapp group was very effective. The mean knowledge gain is 35.80, mean adoption is 8.10, Mean Communication Efficiency Index is 7.48 among the farmers of the Experimental group which is far ahead of the control group. Further, the members of whatsapp group could save Rs. 2560 with mean yield of 8.7 quintals /ha and achieved an income of Rs. 43100/ha.
Keywords: Cultivation, Farmers, Mobile, Whatsapp platform
References
Aker, J.C. (2011). Dial “A” for agriculture: a review of information and communication technologies for agricultural extension in developing countries. Agricultural Economics 42(6):631-647.
Andres, D. and Woodard, J. (2013). Social media handbook for agricultural development practitioners, ISBN: 0-89492-918-6, USAID Washington D.C.
Bell, M. (2015). ICT – Powering Behavior Change for a Brighter Agricultural Future, Discussion Paper, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) under project Modernizing Extension and Advisory Services (MEAS), University of California Davis.
Cole, S.A. and Fernando, A.N. (2012). The value of advice: Evidence from mobile phonebased agricultural extension. Working Paper, Harvard Business School: 13-47.
Kailash, O.P., Kumar, L. and Singh, S.K. (2017). Utilization pattern of mobile phone technology (smart phone) among the farmers of Nagaur district in Rajasthan. Indian Research Journal of Extension Education 7(4): 117-121.
Thakur and Chander (2018). Effectiveness of whatsapp for sharing agricultural information among farmers of Himachal Pradesh, Journal of Hill Agriculture 9(1): 119-123, January – March, 2018.
World Bank (2016). World Development Report: Digital Dividends. Washington, DC. World Bank.