Sources of information utilized by the pig farmers of aizawl district of Mizoram, India

The present study was undertaken to find out the sources of information utilized by the pig farmers of Aizawl district of Mizoram, India, and to identify the preferred methods of receiving information on new or innovative farming practices. A total of 100 farmers were selected for the study and personal interview method was employed to collect data. The study revealed that Personal Local sources were the most important and most utilized sources of information by the pig farmers and these sources received maximum average score (246). Mass media ranked second amongst the communication sources, whereas the respondents found Personal cosmopolite channels to be the least utilized sources of information. High majority of farmers (77%) considered neighbours, family relatives and friends as the most potential information sources. Majority of the respondents (69%) contacted the progressive farmers regularly for information. Veterinary Field Assistant formed the important source of information as 45 percent consulted this source of information regularly followed by veterinary doctors and cooperative personnel by 31 percent and 23 percent of the respondents respectively. Majority of the respondents (52%) viewed television regularly, while 10 percent did not view farm programmes on TV at all. Radio was the second most utilized source of information under this category as 41percent of the respondents listened regularly to the farm programmes broadcasted by All India Radio, Aizawl, and 39 percent listened to these programmes occasionally, while 20 percent did not listen to these programmes. A good percentage of the respondents (30%) read the newspaper regularly for information and it ranked third in this category. Respondents (61%) rated On-farm Demonstration as the most preferred method, while 52 percent of the respondents rated Tours and Fields Trips as second most preferred method.