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European Journal of Applied Sciences – Vol. 10, No. 3

Publication Date: June 25, 2022

DOI:10.14738/aivp.103.12395. Ghosh, M. K., Rafi, S. M., Mahmud, I. H., & Turin, M. Z. (2022). Assessment of the Farmers' Use of Ict Tools in Farming Practices.

European Journal of Applied Sciences, 10(3). 381-395.

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

Assessment of the Farmers' Use of Ict Tools in Farming Practices

Mithun Kumar Ghosh

Department of Agricultural Extension & Rural Development

EXIM Bank Agricultural University Bangladesh

S. M. Rafi

Department of English, EXIM Bank Agricultural University Bangladesh

Iqbal Hasan Mahmud

Faculty of Agriculture, EXIM Bank Agricultural University Bangladesh

Mursaleen Zebin Turin

Bangladesh Institute of Research and

Training on Applied Nutrition (BIRTAN), Bangladesh

ABSTRACT

It has been two decades into the current century which is marked by the

revolutionary development and expansion of Information and Communication

Technology (ICT), especially across the socioeconomic structure in the

underdeveloped and developing countries. The emerging practices of integrating

ICT facilities in agricultural sector has shown to be quite promising. This study was

designed to determine the use of ICT as an extension tool by farmers in Diyar region

(four villages) of Chapainawabganj district, Bangladesh. In this particular area, with

many shortcomings, traditional public extension services have been prevalent. The

use of ICT as dynamic agricultural extension tool has the potential to fill in the voids

left by the traditional extension services. The research work presented in this paper

studied the socio-demographic characteristics of the famers, extent of use of ICT

tools by the farmers and the attitude of the farmers towards ICT use. Most of the

respondents had shown moderately favourable attitude. Education, land ownership

and cosmopoliteness showed positive significant relationship. And age, family

member, number of children and farming experience showed negative significant

relationship with the attitude of the farmers towards using ICT tools. Some basic

resistances such as need for availability, accessibility, knowledge, interest and

some others are keeping the growth of ICT usage low among the farmers of the

chosen area. Evidently more work needs to be done to reach the expected rate of

ICT led solutions for the promising agriculture in Chapainawabganj.

Keywords: ICT tools, Farming practices, Chapainawabganj, Attitude, Extent of use.

INTRODUCTION

Bangladesh is an independent sovereign country in Southeast Asia. It shares borders with India

and Myanmar (Burma) and is one of the most populous countries in the world (8th). The

inhibition of around 163,882,000 people in an area of 147,570 km2 (92nd place) makes it quite

challenging to ensure social security facilities for the public. It is mainly an agricultural country

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European Journal of Applied Sciences (EJAS) Vol. 10, Issue 3, June-2022

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

and agriculture is very important for the livelihood of millions of Bangladeshis. The agricultural

sector contributes 13.47 per cent to its GDP and 80 per cent to employment [1]. Despite being

one of the top endangered countries to face the adverse effects of climate change, Bangladesh's

economy is largely dependent on agriculture [2]. Therefore, agriculture is an important factor

for the sustainable development of Bangladesh. To achieve economically viable farming,

farmers must move towards technology-based farming practices. But the knowledge of farmers

about the modern technology of production, processing and preservation is very limited, as

they do not follow proper techniques from the beginning of crop production till harvesting [3].

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is the powerhouse of the world economy. It

has been recognized as a tool for mainstream development to enhance the economic and social

status of the citizens of Bangladesh under Vision 2021 [4]. ICT stands for Information and

Communication Technology, it refers to any electronic means of capturing, processing, storing

and disseminating information [5]. Cell phones, computers, the internet, and networks,

hardware and software, satellite systems, and videoconferencing or distant learning are all

examples of information and communication technology (ICT) [6]. Information has become an

important input in the growing knowledge-intensive agriculture. Information is even more

important for smallholder wealthy poor farmers and producers, who are facing the challenge

posed by income growth with limited resources in their struggle for livelihood and sustenance

[7]. ICT has become the most influential means of disseminating the information people need

worldwide [4]. ICT plays an important role in disseminating knowledge and attitudes among

the rural population and disseminating a wide range of information and advice [8]. The

widespread use of modern information technology for communication between researchers,

extension workers and farmers needs to be promoted so that technology and information can

be transferred in an affordable manner. ICT has many promising applications in agricultural

extension [9]. It could bring new information services to rural areas where farmers, as users,

will have more control over existing information channels than ever before. The use of ICT has

been recognized as an important pillar of agricultural expansion and an essential input process

for imparting knowledge (information) and advice as an input for modern agriculture in the

current situation of the rapidly changing world [10]. Agricultural extension which on the one

hand relies heavily on the exchange of information between farmers and between them and on

the other hand has identified a wide range of other actors as an area where ICT can play an

important role [11].

Scientists have functionally defined ICT-based media as an umbrella term that includes

computer hardware and Software, digital broadcasting and telecommunications technology as

well as online or offline digital data storage, and the contemporary social networking aspect

[12]. It contains a wide range of components, such as TVs, radios, cell phones, and policies and

laws that govern the widespread use of these media. ICT can bridge the communication gap

between development workers, rural organizations and farmers. It can enhance local

knowledge demand and information exchange and research-extension-farmer connectivity and

improve quality decisions that affect rural as well as agricultural and rural development [13].

The status of ICT use in the agricultural sector of Bangladesh is not very rich. The Agriculture

Information and Communication Center (AICC) was established in the country during 2009-

2010 to facilitate the delivery of farm information to the people of the farming community.

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Ghosh, M. K., Rafi, S. M., Mahmud, I. H., & Turin, M. Z. (2022). Assessment of the Farmers' Use of Ict Tools in Farming Practices. European Journal

of Applied Sciences, 10(3). 381-395.

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/aivp.103.12395

There are 245 AICCs in the country which provide services like weather information, crop

cultivation techniques, disease and insect information and latest price information to 40-50

farmers every day which is not sufficient at all [1]. However, the cost factor of timely face-to- face dissemination and the difficulty of reaching the target audience also necessitated the

introduction of ICT based media in the transfer of agricultural technology [14].

Moreover, in Bangladesh, agricultural extension services are employed to provide necessary

information to farmers. But due to the poor number of extension workers and some other

limitations, the agricultural extension service failed to provide timely information to the

farmers. As a result, farmers have poor access to relevant and up-to-date information,

knowledge about new technologies, skills, practices, ways to collaborate with the market, and

lack of access to resources to overcome these limitations. As a result, smallholders are at risk

of crop-related diseases, productivity constraints, and failure to take advantage of potential

farming opportunities. Therefore, the government has taken ICT seriously to provide the

necessary information services to the farmers. The Bangladesh government has undertaken

some ICT projects with the help of some non-governmental organizations and foreign aid. Some

of the successful ongoing projects in Bangladesh for rural people are Grameen Bank's Village

Phone Program, Grameenphone Community Information Center, Pallithya Kendra, e-Krishok

and some other projects of similar interest.

To find out the progress of these initiatives, some answers about how much access do the

primary stakeholders have and in which manner they are practically able to take advantage are

required. In this regard, the present study was conducted to explore the extent of ICT use as an

extension tool and the relationship between the socio-economic characteristics of farmers in

Diyar region of Chapainawabganj district of Bangladesh. Similar kind of study were conducted

in Gazipur district by [15] and in Manikganj district by [16] of Bangladesh, but

Chapainawabganj district is significant for its agricultural value. This area contributes

remarkably to gross national production. Past studies have shown that the farmers of this

locality are in the backfoot both financially and educationally. It is high time the researchers

looked into how much of the government’s and NGOs’ efforts to promote ICT facilities are being

effective. Corresponding to this necessity, the present study took place in the Chapainawabganj

district with the following objectives:

• To determine the extent of use of ICT tools by the farmers.

• To find out the constraints faced by the farmers in the way of expanding the use of ICT

tools.

• To identify the attitude of the respondents to ICT usage.

• To recognize the relationship between selected characteristics of the farmers and their

extent of use of ICT tools through exploring the Socio-demographic characteristics of the

respondents.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Location of the study

Chapainawabganj is located in the northwestern part of Bangladesh. It is a part of the Rajshahi

division and is known for the special melody of the local dialect. From the evidence of

Wikipedia, it has an area of 1,702.55 km2 and a population of 1,647,521 with a density of 970

persons per square mile. It is the westernmost district of the country. The western part of this