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S. SATYANARAYANA, V. SAILAJA* AND S.V. PRASAD
Department of Agricultural Extension, S.V. Agricultural College, Tirupati – 517 502, Andhra Pradesh, India
With a view to know the utilization and credibility of various inter-personal localite sources as perceived by the rice growers, the study was conducted with an Ex-post facto research design in SPSR Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh over a randomly drawn sample of 120 rice growing farmers as respondents. The results of the study revealed that with regard to obtaining information related to technical and non-technical aspects farmers preferred the various inter-personal localite sources in the ranking order of Adarsha Rythu (1st), Neighbours (2nd), Progressive farmers (3rd) and Friends (4th) respectively. Similarly information related to Govt. policies/schemes order of preference was Village Revenue Officer (1st), Adarsha Rythu (2nd) and Progressive farmer(3rd ). Further, the distribution of respondents with regard to obtaining information related to technical, non-technical aspects, the various inter-personal localite sources which farmers considered as most credible and the extent of use of these sources in the ranking order of Adarsha Rythu (1st), Progressive farmers (2nd), Neighbours (3rd) and Input dealers (4th) respectively. Similarly information related to Govt. policies/schemes the order of preference pertaining to credibility of the information sources was Adarsha Rythu (1st), Village Revenue Officer (2nd) and Progressive farmers (3rd) as perceived by the rice growers.
Inter-Personal Localite Sources, Rice Farmers, Utilization and Credibility,
Information is considered as a vital resource, along with land, labour, capital and skills. People need information for their day-to-day activities and for the development of their environment and their selves. Information serves as the cornerstone of successful socio-economic development because it plays a key role in decision making. Access to reliable, timely and relevant information can help significantly and in many ways to reduce farmers’ risk and uncertainty, empowering them to make good decisions. Information is vital for increasing production and improving marketing and distribution strategies (Oladele, 2006). Hence timely, relevant, and accurate information collection is crucial to farmers. Information also opens windows of sharing experiences, best practices, sources of financial aids and new markets. Present Extension system is already under pressure due to wide ratio between the extension worker and farmers. In this situation, it is very difficult to provide latest information and farm technologies to the farmers in short time. To solve such problems, cost effective and efficient information support systems like Inter-personal localite,
Inter-personal cosmopolite and Mass media sources/ Impersonal cosmopolite sources are very much required. Keeping in view the factual position, it was felt necessary to investigate the information source utilization pattern by the rice farmers.
The study was conducted with an expost- facto research design to study the information source utilization pattern of rice farmers. The SPSR Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh was purposively selected for the study because maximum number of rice farmers was involved in rice farming and having agriculture as main occupation. SPSR Nellore district comprises of 46 mandals out of which four mandals namely Nellore, Venkatachalam, Allur and Vidavalur mandals were purposively selected for the study. From each of the selected mandals, two villages were selected based on random sampling procedure. Thus, totally eight villages were selected for the study. A total sample of 120 rice farmers were selected by selecting 15 farmers from each village through simple random sampling procedure. Keeping in view the objectives of the study, a well structured interview schedule was developed and pretested. This was administered to sample respondents through personal investigation. The study was carried out during the year 2013-14.
Frequency of use of inter-personal localite sources of information:
From the table 1, it is clear that Adarsha Rythus (Mean score, 2.88), Neighbours (Mean score, 2.78), Progressive farmer (Mean score, 2.54), Friends (Mean score, 2.47), Input dealers (Mean score, 2.15) and Relatives (Mean score, 1.89) were the major inter-personal localite sources of information used by majority of the selected rice growers for obtaining information related to technical aspects of rice production and were accorded 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th ranks respectively.
Data shown in Table 1 further revealed that in obtaining information by the rice farmers related to non-technical aspects also the same trend was observed. Adarsha Rythus (Mean score, 2.93), Progressive farmers (Mean score, 2.85), Neighbours (Mean score, 2.45) and Input dealers (Mean score, 2.32) were the major inter-personal localite sources of information for obtaining information related to non-technical aspects like agricultural inputs availability, credit & finance management, marketing and weather forecasting and were accorded 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th ranks respectively.
Above results depicted the emergence of leadership from among the farming community. Adarsha Rythu is one of such category appointed by the government. They are specialized in certain subject matter areas hence were having command and recognition in the society, also in connection with maximum fellow farmers. Similarly the same situation with progressive farmers. They are also treated as special one among the farming community. Cosmopolite behavior makes them more acceptable in the society. The innate quality they possess is innovativeness that updates them with latest technologies. Respondents believed that Adarsha Rythus and progressive farmers as source of information because of the above reasons.
Further respondents believed that their neighbors as source of information, which ranked 2nd position among inter-personal localite sources. The basic factor to reach such high figure might be that the respondents believe on neighbors considering that they never provide unrealistic information. Since their social relationship has its own past and future apart from present. Next in the rank order were friends. Trust or credibility is the major factor behind consultation of friends. The reliable information delivered by friends to friends makes their friendship long lasting. Input dealers carry latest information but at times they exploit farmers as their main intention is profit making in their business. Relatives were contacted by an extent of 32.50 per cent as they were not always within their proximity.
Data shown in Table 1 indicated that in obtaining information by the rice farmers related to Govt. policies/ schemes from among the various inter-personal localite sources, Village Revenue Officer (Mean score, 2.93) was most regularly contacted channel and accorded 1st rank. Adarsha rythus (Mean score, 2.89) and Progressive farmers (Mean score, 2.43) were also contacted by the rice farmers for seeking information on Govt. policies/ schemes and were accorded 2nd and 3rd ranks. The Village Revenue Officer is considered as the village level officials who carry latest developments in government sector, hence, respondent farmers were in regular contact with village revenue officer for obtaining information regarding government policies/schemes. As mentioned earlier, Adarsha Rythus and Progressive farmers being easily accessible in the villages itself and due to their cosmopolite behaviour might have contributed towards the extent of their contact by the rice farmers to obtain information related to Govt. policies/ schemes. The finding was in line with the findings of Kumar et al. (2012)
Extent of use of Inter-Personal Localite Sources of Information:
From the Table 2 it is clear that with regard to extent of use information related to technical aspects from the various inter-personal localite sources, the information obtained from the Adarsha Rythu (Mean score, 1.97) was considered most credible and accorded 1st rank. Extent of use information obtained from Village Adarsha Rythu (Mean score, 1.96), Neighbours (Mean score, 1.91), Progressive farmer (Mean score, 1.90), Input dealers (Mean score, 1.78), Relatives (Mean score, 1.61) and Friends (Mean score, 1.55) were the major inter-personal localite sources of information used by the majority of selected rice growers in obtaining information related to technical aspects of rice production and were accorded 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th ranks respectively.
Thorough analysis of the Table revealed that farmers preference for getting information is based on the credibility of the source as they perceived based on the person/authority’s general image. It is clear from the results that the usage of information with regard to technical aspects Adarsha Rythu was considered as the most credible source and ranked first. This might be due to the fact that he is one of the agent specially selected by the government who in turn frequently undergoes special trainings that were conducted by the State Department of Agriculture. Hence, most of the farmers felt that he is one among them who is having the most relevant information required by them. Another reason behind was that the farmers remain more time in contact with Adarsha Rythu. Adarsha ryrthu mostly used and adopt new technology on his field, which can easily be seen by the other farmers with their own eyes and may easily be implemented in the same situation on their fields.
Next preference was given to the information given by neighbours and progressive farmers. These sources were considered as the most credible inter personal localite sources of information utilized by the rice growers. This might be due to their easy accessibility and approach by the farmers. It is quite natural that he/she would like to have the moral support from his neighbours. Thus, the fellow farmers were the important source for the spread of an innovation. Information provided by Input dealers and relatives was occupied 4th and 5th ranks respectively with regard to information use. This might be due to the reason that the visits made by the rice growers to the input agencies to get their inputs would pave way for gathering information regarding the cultivation aspects. Before adoption of any new practice getting reinforcement from their own relatives is quite natural. This might be the reason for using the information obtained from the relatives.
Data shown in Table 2 further reveled that in obtaining information related to non- technical aspects from the personal localite sources also the same trend was observed. Adarsha rythu (Mean score, 1.93), Progressive farmers (Mean score, 1.88), Neighbours (Mean score, 1.61) and Input dealers (Mean score, 1.44) were the major inter-personal localite sources of information considered as credible by the rice farmers in using the information related to non-technical aspects like agricultural inputs availability, credit & finance management, marketing and weather forecasting.
With regard to non-technical aspects usage of information from the various sources also rely on the same reason that the Adarsha rythu and Progressive farmers both were frequently in touch with the officials of the state department of agriculture. Hence, farmers feel that the information from these sources will have authenticity. As mentioned earlier, accessibility of a particular source of information has its bearing on the extent of its use by the farming community. Neighbours and input dealers being easily accessible in the village itself or adjacent villages in case of input dealers (as they are business oriented always available in the shops) might have contributed towards the extent of use of information obtained from these sources in the study area.
Data shown in Table 2 with regard to extent of use information related to Government policies/schemes from the various inter-personal localite sources, the information obtained from the Adarsha Rythu (Mean score, 1.97) was considered most credible and accorded 1st rank. Information obtained from Village Revenue Officer (Mean score, 1.93) and Progressive farmers (Mean score, 1.65) was also considered by the rice farmers and was given 2nd and 3rd ranks respectively with regard to extent of use. This finding was inline with the findings of Meean et al. (2011).
Information related to Govt. policies/schemes most of the farmers depend on the information obtained from the Adarsha Rythu as he is considered as the ‘key informant’ in disseminating the relevant information within no time. Information from the Village Revenue Officer was next preferred by the farmer due to the reason that he is one of the representatives of the village governance and was considered as most credible source of getting information regarding Govt. policies/schemes. As mentioned earlier the information obtained from the progressive farmers was also considered as next credible source by most of the rice farmers.
With regard to obtaining information related to technical and non-technical aspects farmers preferred the various inter-personal localite sources in the ranking order of Adarsha Rythu (1st), Neighbours (2nd), Progressive Farmers (3rd) and Friends (4th) respectively. Similarly information related to Govt. policies/schemes order of preference was Village Revenue Officer (1st), Adarsha Rythu (2nd) and Progressive Farmer (3rd ). Further, the
distribution of respondents with regard to obtaining information related to technical, non-technical aspects, the various inter-personal localite sources which farmers considered as most credible and extent of use of these sources in the ranking order of Adarsha Rythu (1st), Progressive Farmers (2nd), Neighbours (3rd) and Input Dealers (4th) respectively. Similarly information related to Govt. policies/schemes the order of preference was Adarsha Rythu (1st), Village Revenue Officer (2nd) and Progressive Farmers (3rd) as felt by the rice growers.