Critical Analysis of Information Sources and Channels Preferred by Vegetable Growers of Haryana

The present study was conducted in 2014–15 to study the rapidity, utilization and credibility pattern of information sources and channels by the vegetable growers in Haryana. The 160 vegetable growers from four districts of Haryana were interviewed. The study reported that personal localite sources like neighbours, friends, progressive and opinion farmers were playing important role in transfer of vegetable production technologies to the vegetable growers. The sesources with high credibility were widely used by majority of the respondents. While SMS, s and Scientist were perceived as most rapid source of information for transfer of technology. The most revealing finding of the study is that ADO/BAO had lost their credibility among the farmers while the input suppliers and agents of commercial seed, fertilizers, plant protection, etc., played a critical role in information network of vegetable growers, however, their credibility is low. It was important to note that scientists and SMS's were perceived a much credible source of information by farmers, however these sources were less accessible to the farmers. Further, the increasing literacy rate and easy accessibility of the mass media channels resulted in increased utilization of these media by the farmers.