Pooja Goswami et al, International Journal of Advances in Agricultural Science and Technology,
Vol.8 Issue.7, July-2021, pg. 48-54
ISSN: 2348-1358
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© 2021, IJAAST All Rights Reserved, www.ijaast.com 48
Credibility of Different Agricultural
Information Sources Utilized by
Farm Women of Uttarakhand
Pooja Goswami
1
; Dr. Kiran Rana
2
1
MSc. Scholar, pujagoswami0@gmail.com
2
Assistant Professor, kiranagricommunication@gmail.com
DOI: 10.47856/ijaast.2021.v08i7.006
Abstract
Credibility of agricultural information sources affects the adoption of new or improved agricultural practices
by farmers. Credibility refers to perceived trustworthiness accorded to a source by its audience at any given
time and situation. Therefore, Credible sources of agriculture information play major role in diffusion of
agriculture innovations. This study was carried out in Nainital district of Uttarakhand state with specific
objective to explore the relative credibility of information sources as accorded by the farm women of the
region. A sample of 120 farm women was selected by PPS (Probability proportional to size) sampling
method. The agriculture information sources were categorized into three broad heads namely personal
localite, personal cosmopolite and mass media. It was found that majority (62.5%) of respondents had
„medium‟ credibility towards agriculture information sources followed by 20 per cent having low credibility
and only 17.5 per cent had high credibility to different agriculture information sources. It was further found
that family members, KVK officials and newspaper were considered as the most credible sources of
agricultural information among personal localite, personal cosmopolite and mass media sources.
Keywords: Credibility; Sources; Agriculture information; Mass media; Cosmopolite
1. Introduction
In rural Uttarakhand, women contribute up to 90 per cent of the total work force in agriculture and animal care.
The work participation rate of women has been constantly increasing to a large extent than men in the state
over the past few years. Sharma and Kriti (2012) reported that the women in the state devote as much as
62.17 per cent of time for outdoor activities, 21.11 per cent for indoor activities and 8.72 per cent for
recreational activities.
Agricultural Information is an important factor that interacts with other production factors. Information
supplied by extension, research, education and agricultural organizations help women farmers make better
decisions. Information dissemination is a subject of considerable importance for hill farm women who
commonly suffer from isolation and have difficulties in communicating their priorities to decision makers.
Also, Information unevenness at farm level has been recognized as one of the main explanations for low
agriculture productivity and production efficiency. Thus, an improved and strengthened agricultural extension
infrastructure is needed to all the levels of supply chain and it will provide push towards higher productivity
additionally. According to economic reforms in the country each and every sector has changed its strategies in