Interaction

There is a gap between those who use ideas and those who produce them. A good technique of information management will certainly reduce this gap, if not eliminate it. The information management behaviour has been conceptualized as a composite measure of information seeking, evaluation and preservation behaviour of the individual farmer. Thus, the aim of the present paper is to study the information management behaviour of the fish farmers in study areas and to ascertain the constraints acting as barriers in information management. An ex-post-facto research design was followed for the study conducted in the purposively selected two districts in Tripura. A total of 200 farmers from each of the five selected villages of the two blocks from each districts were taken as sample. The Information Management Behaviour of the fish farmers was operationalised as the process of identifying and collection of information on fisheries technologies of origin, evaluating, storing, updating and retrieving it whenever necessary. Suitable measurements were determined to quantify the independent and dependent variables selected for the study. The responses were obtained by administering the pre-tested interview schedule. Majority of the respondents belonged to medium category of (61%) information management behaviour, followed by low (15%) and high (24%) categories. Majority of the respondents used personal contacts for seeking information on improved cultivation practices of fish production. Friends and neighbours, progressive farmers and input suppliers were regularly consulted by the respondents (79.00%, 60.00% and 44.00% respectively) regularly. About 43 per cent of the respondents ’households had occasional contact and 37 per cent respondents reported no contact with the extension personnel. Around 97.00 per cent of the respondents had the habit of evaluation of the information on the basis of economic consideration followed by in the light of past experience (82%). The major constraints perceived by respondents were "Lack of awareness and appropriate skill about latest technology.", "Lack of follow up activity from the extension system" and "Irregularity of field visits by the concerned authority". Suggestions revealed that unless the information is communicated clearly which is feasible in terms of economically, socially or aesthetically to the needs, interests and values of the farmers they cannot utilize the information. The technologies are to be demonstrated in many places of villages with special emphasis on skill components.