Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Application and Farmers’ Perception: A Case Study

Now a day, various means for information communication are available, satellite based internet communication found very efficient, accurate, quick and somewhat cheaper in the field of disseminating the information from research system to farmers. This communication has touched almost all the districts in our country and is mainly down up to the village levels. Internet communication offers a means for bridging the gap between developmental and research professional, rural people and agricultural producers through the initiation of interaction and dialogue. Keeping all the views and research objectives in mind it was decided to study the expectations and opinion of the farmers regarding internet facility through Community Internet Center (CIC). Majority of the respondents was expected the Community Internet Center (CIC) facilities at panchayat office of the village. The major purposes to have CIC explained by the respondents were to collect agricultural information, to know latest news and information about the world and to know about product prices. All of them expressed positive response to have proper training about the use of internet facility through Government appoint private agency with good farming experience. The results found that majority of the farmers understood that internet is a rich source to collect world wide information on agriculture and it is the fastest way to exchange information in shortest time. Majority farmers completely or to a certain degree felt that though internet is costly affair for the farmers but it is the best mean to collect information on market prices, support price, future price of agricultural products.