A Study on the Comparative Impact of ICT on Small and Semi-Medium Farmers in Purba Medinipur, West Bengal

Abstract

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has the potential to improve the efficiency and productivity of farming activities, enhance market access and information, and reduce transaction costs for farmers. The use of ICT has significantly impacted India's agriculture sector. With the usage of ICT in the various states of India, there have been various outcomes; however, the benefits of ICT may differ for semi-medium and small farmers due to differences in access, use, and adoption. Studies have shown that semi-medium farmers in West Bengal have higher levels of access to and use of ICT compared to small farmers. The present study is based on primary data collected from Purba Medinepur, West Bengal. The study used binomial regression analysis to find out the impact of ICT on different categories of farmer. Further, in order to test association between ICTs and Farmer category chi-square test has been applied.
The present study found out that there is no significant comparative impact between the farmer category and usage rate of radio and TV usage. Further, TV plays an important role in the dissemination of knowledge and information. As far as mobile phones are concerned there is an extremely high usage between both the categories of the farmers. The usage of IVR is extremely low for the both category of farmers and the pattern is also quite similar. There is no comparative impact of ICT on semi-medium and small farmers.