Utilization of information regarding improved wheat cultivation practices through Kisan Call Centre (KCC) among the farmers of Prayagraj district (UP)

The present study was conducted district of Uttar Pradesh to assess the utilization of the respondents towards utilization of information regarding improved wheat cultivation practices through Kisan Call Centre. A total number of 123 respondents were selected purposively from 8 villages under Chaka block. The data were collected by interview method by using pre structured schedule and later appropriate statistical analysis was done to find out the meaningful results. The findings revealed that majority of the respondents were living in medium level of socio economic status such source of information, social participation, economic motivation, progressiveness and mass media exposure and also revealed that majority (58.53%) of the respondents have medium utilization level followed by 22.76 percent having high and those 18.69 percent having low of utilization level of information regarding improved wheat cultivation practices through kisan call centre.

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KCC Information FlowClose ×

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Percentage: Low (09-13) vs Medium (14-20) vs High (21-26)Close ×

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Introduction

Agriculture is one of the oldest and most essential practices of humanity, it has played a significant role in shaping societies and sustaining life on Earth. From the early farming communities to the advanced farming practices of the Neolithic era, agriculture has continuously evolved, driven by technological innovations, economic challenges, and environmental factors. Today, agriculture not only feeds a global population of over 8 billion people but also serves as a cornerstone of economic development and environmental stewardship. Agriculture is the systematic practice of cultivating plants, raising animals, and utilizing other natural resources to produce food, fiber, and other products essential for sustaining human life and economic development. The people living in 21st century with the revolution of information communication technology which is responsible for wide spread access of computer technology as well as mobile services in to the social structure. The technology is turn influenced the society, development and social environment. Information and communication technology (ICT) plays a crucial role across all sectors, including agriculture. India boasts a vast telephone telecom network with numerous subscribers, facilitating rapid information exchange. This advancement has significantly eased the transfer of agricultural technology, a central goal of extension education historically challenged by slow communication methods. The Kisan Call Centre (KCC), established by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, Government of India on January 21, 2004, exemplifies this ICT integration. It addresses farmers' queries via toll-free calls in their local dialect. Utilizing basic mobile telephony technologies such as SMS, IVRS, OBD, and USSD, KCCs provide personalized information accessible through a nationwide toll-free number, 1800-180-1551. Key features include support in local languages, availability from 6 am to 10 pm throughout the year, conferencing capabilities with experts, and compatibility across all mobile networks. The IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Nigam is the execution partner of KCCs. The KCC has become the instant ICT solution for the farmers due to real time interaction with the advisors that too in local languages with just a mobile phone. Studies have proved that farmers are immensely benefitted by following the suggestions given at KCCs.

Mechanism of Kisan call centre

Level I: Farm Tail Advisors (FTAs), who are agricultural graduates, take calls and provide basic solutions. If they can't resolve the issue, they escalate it to Level II.

Level II: Subject Matter Specialists handle unresolved issues from Level I and aim to provide answers within 72 hours. If they can't solve the problem, it is escalated to Level III. www.extensionjournal.com Level III: Nodal officers (scientists) and a group of specialists provide advanced solutions with better resources. They respond to the caller within 72 hours through various communication methods.

Research Methodology

The present study was conducted in Chaka block of Prayagraj district of Uttar Pradesh. Total 123 respondents were selected randomly from 08 villages of one blocks i.e. Chaka in Prayagraj district. Personal interview method was utilised by investigator himself, either at their home or at community place or at their field. Descriptive research design has been used in the present study. The data was collected from respondents by using the pre structured interview schedule. Data analysis is done through frequency and percentage distribution using statistical tools. For calculating percentage, frequency was multiplied by 100 and divided by total number of Respondents.

Objective

To examine the utilization of information regarding improved Wheat Cultivation Practices through Kisan Call Centre. Mass media exposure 0.983* ** Significant at 0.1 Percent level ofprobability, * Significant at 0. Percent level probability, NS = Not significant From table 4. it can be observed that 14 socio-economic characteristics has been studied among which characteristics like age, caste, family size, family type, house type, land holding annual income, source of information, economic motivation, progressiveness and mass media exposure, had positive and significant association with the utilization level of information regarding improved wheat cultivation practices through kisan call centre at 5 percent level of significance. Meanwhile, education, and occupation, had positive and significant association with utilization level of www.extensionjournal.com information regarding improved wheat cultivation practices through kisan call centre at 1 percent level of significance. Whereas, social participation are postive and non-significant association with utilization of information regarding improved wheat cultivation practices through kisan call centre. Thus, it accepts the null hypothesis. So it can be concluded that social participation is not influence the utilization of information regarding improved wheat cultivation practices through kisan call centre.

Sl. No.	Independent Variable	Correlation coefficient for utilization (r) value
1.	Age	0.980*
2.	Caste	0.885*
3.	Family Size	0.519*
4.	Family Type	0.879*
5.	Education	0.396**
6.	Occupation	0.121**
7.	House Type	0.917*
8.	Land Holding	0.524*
9.	Annual Income	0.922*
10.	Source of Information	0.979*
11.	Social Participation	0.047NS
12.	Economic motivation	0.908*
13.	Progressiveness	0.866*
14.	Mass media exposure	0.983*

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Relationship between the profile of the respondents with their and utilization towards the use of KCC.

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Results and Discussion

Results and Discussion

Conclusion

It is concluded that majority of the respondents were living in medium level of socio economic status. The study clearly brought out that the majority (58.53%) of the respondents have medium utilization level followed by 22.76 percent of those having low and those 18.69 percent having low of information regarding improved wheat cultivation practices through kisan call centre. It was also found that utilization level of information regarding improved wheat cultivation practices was positively and significantly correlated with socio economic status.

Figures and tables from the paper

Sr. No	Variables	Frequency	Percentage
1.	Age
	Young age group (18 to 35 years)	28	22.76
	Middle age group (between 36 to 55 years)	61	51.22
	Old age group (above 55 years)	32	26.02
2.	Caste
	General caste	42	34.15
	Other Backward caste (OBC)	57	46.35
	Scheduled caste (SC)/ ST	24	19.50
3.	Martial status
	Married	107	86.99
	Unmarried	16	13.01
4.	Family size
	Up to 5 members	64	52.03
	Above 5 members	59	47.97
5.	Family type
	Joint	44	35.77
	_ Nuclear	79	64.22
6.	Education
	Illiterate	34	27.64
	Primary	28	22.76
	High School	23	18.70
	Intermediate	30	24.40
	UG and Above	8	6.50
7.	Occupation
	Only farming	70	56.91
	Farming+business	42	34.15
	Farming+ Sevices	11	8.94
8.	House type
	Semi Cemented	40	32.52
	Cemented	83	67.48
10.	Size of land
	Marginal (Below 1 ha.)	59	47.97
	Small (1 to 2 ha.)	40	32.52
	Medium (2 to 4 ha.)	15	12.20
	Large (4 ha. and above)	9	7.31
11.	Annual Income
	Low ( Up to 1.0 lakh)	40	32.52
	Medium (1 lakh to 2 lakh)	67	54.48
	High (Above 3 lakh)	16	13.00
12.	Source of information utilized
	Low (20-25)	7	8.44
	Medium (26-33)	98	65.73
	High (34-40)	18	25.83
13.	Social Participation
	Low (1-3)	19	15.44
	Medium (4-6)	42	34.14
	High (7-10)	62	50.40
14.	Economic motivation contact
	Low (6-7)	41	33.33
	Medium (8-9)	73	59.35
	High (10-11)	9	7.32
15.	Progressiveness
	Low (7-8)	44	35.77
	Medium (9-10)	68	55.29
	High 11-12)	11	8.94
15.	Mass Media Exposure
	Low (08-10)	15	12.19
	Medium (11-13)	86	69.92
	High (14-16)	22	17.89

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Socio economic profile of the respondents

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Utilization of information regarding improved wheat cultivation practices through kisan call centre.

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Sl. No.	Utilization level	Frequency	Percentage
01.	Low (09-13)	28	22.76
02.	Medium (14-20)	72	58.53
03.	High (21-26)	23	18.69
	Total	123	100.00

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Utilization level of information regarding improved

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