1Senior Scientist and Consortium Principal Investigator, Rice Knowledge Management Portal
2Scientist, Directorate of Rice Research, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad-500030, Telangana, India
3Principal Scientist, Directorate of Rice Research, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad-500030, Telangana, India
4Principal Scientist & Head, Transfer of Technology and Training, Directorate of Rice Research, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad-500030, Telangana, India
5Principal Scientist, Central Rice Research Institute, Cuttack, Odisha, India
6Senior Rice Breeder, Zonal Agricultural Research Station, VC Farm, Mandya, Karnataka, India
7National Coordinator, National Agricultural Innovation Project, Component-1, Krishi Anusandhan Bhavan –II, Pusa, New Delhi, India
8Senior Rice Breeder, Regional Agricultural Research Station, Karjat, Maharashtra, India
9Senior Scientist, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, New Delhi, India
10Subject Matter Specialist (Extension), Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Deccan Development Society, Zaheerabad, Medak, India
11Former Director, Directorate of Rice Research, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad-500030, Telangana, India
*Corresponding author email id: shaiknmeera@gmail.com
Online published on 31 December, 2014.
There is a tremendous potential for agricultural stakeholder to harness information and communication technologies (ICTs) through access to online learning resources and repositories. Most of the online sources of agricultural knowledge lack credible, contextualised and local language knowledge that could be readily applicable among the extension professionals and other stakeholders. Hence, there is a need to understand knowledge needs and online knowledge-seeking behaviours of agricultural stakeholders. It is essential to develop and deploy a sound methodology to analyse the online sources of agricultural knowledge for the benefit of extension organisations. This study focuses on the Indian rice sector and comes out with empirical evidences on knowledge needs and online knowledge-seeking behaviour of various stakeholders. The paper also recommends sound strategies for developing online agricultural repositories.
Indian rice sector, Information and communication technologies, Knowledge-seeking, Stakeholders