Develoment of Communication Material on Government Digital Initiatives in Agriculture For Farmers

Abstract

MAHARANA PRATAP UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE and TECHNOLOGY, newlineUDAIPUR (RAJASTHAN) newlineCOLLEGE OF COMMUNITY AND APPLIED SCIENCES newlineDEPARTMENT OF EXTENSION EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATION newlineMANAGEMENT newlinePh.D. Thesis 2022 newlineTitle: Development of Communication Material on Government Digital newlineInitiatives in Agriculture for Farmers newlineABSTRACT newlineThe present study was planned to assess the existing knowledge of agriculture-related newlineselected government web portals and mobile applications among the farmers and farm newlinewomen, develop communication material (a multimedia CD and booklet) on selected newlinegovernment web portals and mobile applications related to agriculture, field test the newlinedesigned communication material and assess the effectiveness of designed newlinecommunication material in terms of gain in knowledge. The study was carried out in newlinetwo randomly selected panchayat samities i.e. Badgaon and Vallabhnagar, of Udaipur newlinedistrict of Rajasthan. Eight villages viz. Kawita, Lakhawali, Cheerwa, Dheekli, newlineRoopawali, Ranchhorpura, Navaniya and Maharaj ki Kheri were taken randomly from newlineselected panchayat samities. The study was conducted in four phases. In the first newlinephase, the web portals and mobile applications which are launched by the government newlineand available in Hindi language were selected. The existing knowledge of the farmers newlinerelated to these portals and applications was assessed with the help of interview newlineschedule. In the second phase, a multimedia CD and booklet was designed and newlineevaluated by the 15 experts. On the basis of expert s comment slight modifications newlinewere made in both the multimedia CD and booklet. In the third phase, the designed newlinecommunication material was field tested. The multimedia CD was field tested to newlineassess its comprehension among 60 respondents (30 farmers and 30 farm women from newlineKawita and Ranchhodpura). Similarly, the booklet was field tested to assess it newlinereadability and comprehension among 60 respondents (30 farmers and 30 farm newlinewomen from Lakhawali and Roopawali). In the fourth phase, effectiveness of the newlinedeveloped communication material