Abstract

A study was conducted in Union Territory of Puducherry to asertain the knowledge gain and benefits attained by the dairy farmers through information and communication technology (ICT). About 200 dairy farmers who had been using ICT from Farmers Help Centers (FHCs) were selected as respondents. It is concluded that there is significant difference between the ICT users and Non-ICT users with respect to knowledge on breeding, feeding, management, health control and total knowledge regarding dairy farming. The available dairy information was reported to be less useful to majority of the dairy farmers; however, information on education, employment, weather and Govt. schemes through ICT were reported to be useful to large proportion of farmers. Reduction in work, time and cost saving; transparency in selecting farmers for Govt. schemes; high speed communication, timely availability of information, weather information; knowledge gain about ICT were some of the benefits perceived by the respondents through ICT. Adequate information regarding dairy farming and other enterprises need to be included so that the farmers would gain maximum benefits from the ICT.

Keywords: ICT users; Non-ICT users, dairy farming