This study was undertaken with the hypothesis that providing information about improved cultivation practices through mobile phones would accelerate the adoption of new technologies by farmers and would also enable them to respond to different types of risks, market incentives and competition more efficiently. A sample of 55 farmers who were the beneficiaries of mobile agro-advisory services under the project “Cyber Extension Model for Agricultural Development: An Action Research” were purposively selected from the Sidhauli and Kasmanda blocks of Sitapur district in Uttar Pradesh. For SMS content validation, 25 KVK extension personnel from Sitapur district were selected. In this project, SMS regarding improved cultivation practices of wheat and mustard crops were sent to the farmers. The study revealed that the majority of farmers agreed that mobile phone was the best instrument to get timely information (87%); increase access to information (87%); and overcome physical barriers (82%). The impact of SMS was found more prevalent in adoption of pest and disease management (65% in wheat and 70% in mustard), followed by fertilizer application. The majority of farmers demanded information on price, weather and markets. The study has concluded that transfer of technology through mobile applications would reduce the information asymmetry among the farmers with minimum cost and time.
Mobile based agro-services, SMS, impact, cultivation practices, Uttar Pradesh
