Informatics Publishing Limited

K. P. Raghuprasad ¹, S.C Devaraja ¹, Y. M Gopala ¹

Affiliations
1 Agril. Extn, Directorate of Extension, UAS, Hebbal, Bangalore – 24., IN

Abstract

The study was conducted in Karnataka State during 2011 to assess the knowledge level of farmers towards utilisation of ICT tools in farm communication and to find out the relationship with socio-economic characteristics of farmers using these tools. Bangalore rural, Chikkaballapura and Kolar districts were selected purposefully because these districts are nearer to Bangalore which is the hub of IT and most of farmers of these three districts are receiving Multi Message Services (MMS). The respondents selected for the study include 120 farmers from 12 villages of three districts. The findings of the study revealed that nearly 70 per cent of farmers had high to medium level of knowledge about utilisation of ICT tools and 30.83 per cent had low level of knowledge about ICT tools. Variables such as material possession, social participation, extension participation, mass media exposure and cosmopoliteness had positive and significant relationship with knowledge of farmers about ICT tools at one per cent level of significance whereas; education and annual income had positive and significant relationship at five per cent level of significance. As the study revealed, most of the farmers had knowledge about the utility of ICT tools for farm communication, only limitation is the availability. The arrangement for availability of ICT tools could make huge difference in the agriculture sector of the country.

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Y. M. Gopala ¹, B. Krishnamurthy ², K. P. Raghuprasad ³, K. Nagabhushanam ⁴, K. Shivaramu ⁵

Affiliations
1 UAS, GKVK, Bangalore, IN
2 Department of Agril. Extension, UAS, GKVK, Bangalore, IN
3 Directorate of Extension, Hebbal, Bangalore, IN
4 AC&ABC, Hebbal, Bangalore, IN
5 VC Farm, Mandya. UAS, Bangalore, IN

Abstract

The Farmers' Field School (FFS) is a non-formal learner-centered education process. It seeks to empower people to solve their field problems actively by fostering participation, interaction, dialogue, joint decision making etc. The present investigation was carried out in Chickaballapur district of Karnataka State. The three taluks viz. Shidlaghatta, Bagepalli and Chinthamani were purposively selected for the study where FFS has been organised in the year 2004-05. The study revealed that there was a significant difference in the overall knowledge level of participants and non-participants of FFS. More number of participants (41.67 per cent) belonged to high level of knowledge, whereas, more number of non-participants (45.00 per cent) belonged to low level of knowledge. Variables like age, education, extension participation and extension contact, mass media exposure and achievement motivation of the farmers were found to have significant association with knowledge level of participants.

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K. P. Raghuprasad , N. R. Gangadhrappa , V. L. Madhu Prasad

Abstract

Emancipation of women is an important indicator of economic development. Rural women are well organised in recent years through Self-Help Groups (SHGs), but no significant efforts are made for them to venture into entrepreneurial activities. The study was undertaken to know the impact of extension intervention in adopting mushroom cultivation among the resource poor scheduled caste / scheduled tribe (SC/ST) rural women using locally available agricultural wastes in four districts of Karnataka State viz., Shimoga, Mandya, Hassan, and Tumkur where agricultural wastes such as areca husk, coffee husk, sugarcane trash and coconut coir pith are available respectively, in abundant quantity. The results revealed that there has been an appreciable improvement in the mean score of knowledge on all aspects of mushroom cultivation before-and-after the interventions. They got fairly good crop and the average yield of mushroom per spawn pocket that ranged from 0.90 kg to 1.10 kg with the sale price lying between Rs.40 and Rs.52 per kg. Based on the study, it is recommended to promote mushroom cultivation through capacity building, extending facilities for creating the required infrastructure and developing local markets for mushrooms in the mid-day meal scheme, hospitals, hostels and prisons.

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