The Impact of ICT on Rural Livelihood of Farmers in West Bengal, India

Kalyan SarkarSujit DebSujoy Hazari

DOI 10.7160/aol.2022.140409
No 4/2022, December
pp. 109-119

Sarkar, K., Deb, S. and Hazari, S. (2022) "The Impact of ICT on Rural Livelihood of Farmers in West Bengal, India", AGRIS on-line Papers in Economics and Informatics, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 109-119. ISSN 1804-1930. DOI 10.7160/aol.2022.140409.

Abstract

Agriculture is a major contributor to West Bengal's economy, as the state's manufacturing sector is constrained by topographical constraints. As a result of the foregoing background, this study aims to investigate the effect of ICT on farmers' livelihoods in West Bengal.Primary data collection is done from the rural farmers in West Bengal, based on a pre-defined questionnaire.Data analysis is done via Cronbach’s Alpha, factor analysis linear regression. Taking into consideration of 95% confidence level and 5% confidence interval, total sample size of 381 have been determined. All the five dimensions of livelihood -Financial Capital (FC), Human Capital (HC), Physical Capital (PC), Social Capital (SC) and Natural Capital (NC), have been considered in the present study.Based on the analysis it is found that ICT has a positive impact on all the five tenets of livelihood in the district of PurbaMedinipur, West Bengal.

Keywords

Farmer, livelihood, ICTs, factor analysis and impact.

References

  1. Ansari, M. A. and Pandey, N. (2013) "Assessing the Potential and Use of Mobile Phones in agriculture", Karnataka Journal of Agricultural Sciences, Vol. 26, No. 3, pp. 388-392. ISSN 0972-1061.
  2. Chong, A., Galdo, V. and Torero M. (2009) "Access to Telephone Services and Household Income in Poor Rural Areas Using a Quasi-Natural Experiment for Peru, Economica, Vol. 76, No. 304, pp. 623-648. E-ISSN 1468-0335. DOI 10.1111/j.1468-0335.2008.00735.x.
  3. Ginige, T. and Richards, D. (2012) "A Model for Enhancing Empowerment in Farmers using Mobile Based, 23rd Australasian Conference on Information Systems, Geelong: Macquarie University, Australia, pp. 3-5. ISBN 9781741561722.
  4. Harwit, E. (2004) "Spreading Telecommunications to Developing Areas in China: Telephones, the Internet and the Digital Divide", The China Quarterly, No. 180, pp. 1010-1030. E-ISSN 1468-2648, ISSN 0305-7410. DOI 10.1017/S0305741004000724..
  5. Heeks, R. (1999) "Information and Communication Technologies, Poverty and Development", Development Informatics Working Paper no. 5, University of Manchester. DOI 10.2139/ssrn.3477770.
  6. Korsching, P. F. and Bultena, G. L. (1998) "Telecommunications and Rural Community Development: Defining a Role for Applied Sociology", Journal of Applied Sociology, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 134-162. ISSN 0749-023.
  7. Meera, S. N., Jhamtani, A. and Rao, D. U. M. (2004) "Information and Communication Technology in Agricultural Development: A Comparative Ananlysis of Three Projects from India", Agricultural Research and Extension Network, Network Paper No. 135. [Online]. Available: https://dlc.dlib.indiana.edu/dlc/bitstream/handle/10535/4915/agrenpaper_135.pdf?sequence=1 [Accessed: Jan. 15, 2019].
  8. Okyere, K. and Mekonnen, D. A. (2012) "The Importance of ICTs in the Provision of Information for Improving Agricultural Productivity and Rural Incomes in Africa", Working Paper, United Nations Development Programme, Regional Bureau for Africa. [Online]. Available: https://ideas.repec.org/p/rac/wpaper/2012-015.html [Accessed: Jan. 21, 2019].
  9. Sarin, A. and Jain, R. (2009) "Effect of Mobiles on Socio-economic Life of Urban Poor", Working paper id. 1984, e-Social Sciences. [Online]. Available: https://ideas.repec.org/p/ess/wpaper/id1984.html [Accessed: Jan. 15, 2019].
  10. da Silva, H. and Zainudeen A. (2007) "Teleuse on a Shoestring:Poverty reduction through telecom access at the ‘Bottom of the Pyramid", Centre for Poverty Analysis Annual Symposium on Poverty Research in Sri Lanka. Colombo, 16 p. DOI 10.2139/ssrn.1555597.
  11. da Silva, H., Ratnadiwakara D. and Zainudeen A. (2011) "Social Influence in Mobile Phone Adoption: Evidence from the Bottom of the Pyramid in Emerging Asia", Information Technologies & International Development, Vol. 7, No. 3, Mobile Telephony Special Issue, pp.1-18. ISSN 1544-7529.
  12. Tavakol, M. and Dennick, R. (2011) "Making Sense of Cronbach's Alpha", International Journal of Medical Education, Vol. 2, pp. 53-55. ISSN 2042-6372. DOI 10.5116/ijme.4dfb.8dfd.
  13. Zainudeen, A., Samarajiva, R. and Abeysuriya A. (2006) "Telecom Use on a Shoestring:Strategic Use of Telecom Services by the Financially Constrained in South Asia", The World Dialogue on Regulation for Network Economies (WDR), Vol. 2, No. 1. DOI 10.2139/ssrn.1554747..
  14. Zaremohzzabieh, Z., Samah, A. B., Omar, S. Z., Bolong, J. and Shaffril, A. M. (2014) "A Systematic Review of Qualitative Research on the Role of ICTs in Sustainable Livelihood", The Social Sciences, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp.386-401. ISSN 1818-5800. DOI 10.3923/sscience.2014.386.401.

Full paper

  Full paper (.pdf, 411.5 KB).