UTILIZATION BEHAVIOUR OF FARMERS FOR INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES

The present study was carried out in Vadodara and Kheda district of Gujarat state. From each district three talukas were selected as having a larger area under cultivation in which five villages selected randomly from each taluka. From each village randomly five respondents were selected for the study. Therefore, 150 respondents were selected for the study. The study aimed to understand the utilization behaviour of farmers for Information and Communication Technologies. The findings revealed that 60.00 per cent of the respondents exhibited medium level overall utilization behaviour towards ICTs. Additionally, the findings revealed that variables such as education, annual family income, occupation, extension participation, innovativeness and scientific orientation exhibited positive and highly significant correlation with utilization behaviour for ICTs. Similarly, family size, landholding and sources utilized by the farmers to learn the ICT tools showed positive and significant relationships with utilization behaviour for ICTs. Conversely, age and farming experience highly and negatively correlated with ICT utilization behaviour, while social participation showed a non-significant and positive correlation.