Title: 'Uzhavan app' as a conduit to reduce the digital divide by fostering vital agricultural extension services in the state of Tamil Nadu, India

Authors: S. Aravindh Kumar; C. Karthikeyan

Addresses: Department of Agricultural Extension and Communication, College of Agriculture, Swami Keshwanand Rajasthan Agricultural University, Bikaner, Rajasthan, India ' Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract: Modern-age ICT tools (agricultural mobile apps) have stepped forward to reduce the digital divide among the farmers. The intention of providing timely, reliable and quality information had been the major problem in delivering agricultural extension services. Tamil Nadu Government, India launched a bi-lingual (Tamil and English) Uzhavan mobile application, the intent of enhancing the speed of delivering agricultural extension services and upsurging farm production. The study objected to finding who were all the users and their perception about the Uzhavan app. Using ex-post facto research design, data were collected from a sample of 90 Uzhavan app users in Thanjavur District of Tamil Nadu, India during January 2020 using a proportionate random sampling method. The result indicated that most of the Uzhavan app users were educated, had frequent contact with extension agents, and had ample exposure towards mass media especially social media and it has relatively lowered the information searching time.

Keywords: Uzhavan app; m-agri; digital divide; social media using farmers; e-agriculture; electronic agriculture; utility perception; e-behaviour of farmers; smartphone using farmers; India.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAITG.2022.126875

International Journal of Agriculture Innovation, Technology and Globalisation, 2022 Vol.3 No.1, pp.1 - 27

Received: 01 Jul 2021
Accepted: 17 Jan 2022
Published online: 09 Nov 2022 *

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