| The livestock sector in India plays a multi-faceted role in the socio-economic development of rural households. Nearly two third of farm families are associated with one or the other forms of livestock, hence it is essential to provide adequate information and knowledge for improving their livestock productivity. As smart phone penetration among farmers is increasing day by day, there is huge potential to use it as primary tool of intervention to deliver the knowledge/information and therefore, Android Mobile Fodder App, was developed in Kannada language, which is first of its kind in Karnataka to improve knowledge and create awareness on fodder production. Experimental research design was followed and sample of 120 farmers with 30 farmers from each division of karnataka were randomly selected. Study was taken up in three stages. In first phase, repository of information regarding 16 fodders suitable to karnataka was prepared. In second phase, Fodder App was developed in android platform with audio-visual support. Finally, the developed app was demonstrated before the livestock farmers to test the effectiveness based on their perception and knowledge gain. Majority (76.66%) of the respondents of study area had perceived the mobile app favourably. Study showed that the fodder app was effective in improving farmers knowledge on fodder production with knowledge gain of Mysuru division (45.00%), Bengaluru division (42.90%), Belagavi division (39.43%) and Kalburgi division (37.50%). The study concludes that fodder app could effectively used as ICT enabled tool for information dissemination for farmers. |
