Communication Linkage Mechanism Used by Farmers for Acquisition of Farm Technology in Rajasthan

The effective and efficient communication of farm innovation is an important pre requisite for affecting adoption of agricultural innovations and practices. The study was undertaken in two Kisan Mandals randomly selected from each Agricultural Supervisor circle of both sub divisional offices of Jaipur and Sikar districts of Rajasthan. Thus, 80 farmer respondents were selected for the study purpose. The dependent variable of the study was communication linkage mechanism of farmers. There were seven independent variables selected on the basis of pilot study and review of literature along with the importance of respective independent variable in the context of the study. The data so collected from the respondents were coded, tabulated and utilized for computer analysis for drawing conclusions with the help of suitable statistical tools and techniques. It was found that nearly half of the respondents fell in low education level category, had low to medium level of family education, about half of respondents whose social participation was almost nil. Majority of them had medium to low level of innovative proneness, belonged to low to medium level of socio-economic status, attended no training programmes and having medium to high level of economic motivation. The information processing behavior of farmers follows the continuum ranging from informal to formal modes and sources for acquisition of farm technology. Only three variables viz; family education, innovation proneness and economic motivation established positive and significant association with communication linkage mechanism of farmers for acquisition of farm technology. Majority of farmer respondents claimed that poor policy support and poor infrastructure facilities were most prominent problems in maintaining the effective linkages with research and extension system. The farmers suggested for better information and input management along with the policy support from government to strength the linkage with research and extension system.