Exploring The Use of Information Communication Technologies among Dairy Farmers to Improve Farm Productivity in Punjab Pakistan

Abstract

This study was conducted to examine the impact of demographic attributes on the usage of information and communication technologies (ICTs) among dairy farmers in District Sheikhupura, which is a prominent area in terms of dairy potential and dairy households. The use of ICTs was aimed at improving dairy farm productivity through extended awareness and adoption of recommendations. Tota 383 randomly selected respondents were interviewed face to face on a structured questionnaire. The collected data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Results indicated that 36% of farmers were aged between 36-50 years, 35.8% had no formal education, 60.1% had less than 5 acres of land and 37.6% had the experience of over 20 years. The chi-square test of association confirmed that education (P<0.05), land size (P<0.05) and monthly income (P<0.05) were significantly associated with the use of ICTs. Whereas, age and experiences were insignificant (P>0.05) with the use of ICTs. Multiple Regression analysis confirmed that age, education and size of landholdings had statistically significant relationships with the adoption of ICTs among dairy farmers.  This study, concludes that improvement in the socio-economic attributes of the farmers was associated with the improvement in the use of ICTs. Therefore, efforts are needed to improve the socio-economic conditions of farmers through farmer facilitation, subsidies, training and skills development regarding use of ICT gadgets.