Utilization of Information Sources by the Potato Seed Producers of Punjab

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is a third most important food crop, grown in more than 150 countries in the world. Punjab account for 20.8 per cent of the area under potato cultivation of the country. The present study was conducted to analyse the utilization of information sources by the potato seed producers by selecting 180 farmers from a cluster of three potato seed producing districts of Punjab i.e. Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala. The data were collected from the respondents using structured interview schedule. Study revealed that majority of the unorganized and organized respondents were seeking farm information from pesticide dealers and seed company representatives, respectively with average mean score of 2.27. More number of organized respondents were found to be seeking advice from formal sources like PAU scientists, Agricultural Development Officers and KVK officials. TV program, Mera Pind Mere Khet and newspapers also served as important sources of farm information for the farmers. WhatsApp emerged as a useful ICT tool for the 64.4 and 50.0 per cent of the organized and unorganized respondents.