Constraints faced by the farmers in the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for seeking agricultural information

Information and communication technology (ICT) is an important source of sharing and receiving agricultural information. The present study was conducted by randomly selecting 120 progressive farmers of Punjab state to analyse constraints faced by them in use of ICTs. A structured interview schedule was prepared to interview the respondents personally for collecting data. It was found that majority of the respondents were matriculate (35.83%), of the age of less than 35 years (49.20%) and having 5–10 acres operational landholding (51.67%). Study revealed that poor internet connectivity (76.67%) and lack of network coverage in rural areas (62.50%) among physical, economic and infrastructural problems and lack of region-specific information (94.17%) and lack of trustworthy information (35.83%) among operational problems were the major constraints faced by the ICT users. Customized and reliable content on agricultural technologies needs to be developed for farmers’ use. Strict regulatory mechanism also needs to be promoted for authentic and useful content through ICT. Government needs to reorient its policies in order to harness ICT's potential for contributing to agricultural development.