Digital platforms in agricultural marketing: A case study of accessibility, scope, and constraints in Chikkaballapur District, Karnataka

Introduction

Digital marketing is the component of marketing that uses the internet and online-based technologies such as desktop computers, mobile phones, and other digital media and platforms to promote products and service. In the past, farmers depended on local markets and middlemen, which often gave them low prices and limited access to farmers. With the introduction of mobile apps, websites, and platforms like e-NAM and UMP (Unified Market Platform), farmers were able to check real-time prices, sell their produce online, and connect directly with buyers. These tools helped to reduce the costs, increase the farm income, and widen the market reach. Still, problems such as poor connectivity, lack of awareness, and Poor digital infrastructure, exist. Despite these, digital marketing offers great scopes to transform agriculture and strengthen farmers' livelihoods. Agriculture supports nearly half of India's population, but selling farm produce has long been challenging, especially for small and marginal farmers. Dependence on middlemen, poor infrastructure, and limited market access often prevent farmers from getting fair prices (Kanchan and Singh, 2023) [4] . Digital tools like e-NAM, UMP (Unified Market Platform), and WhatsApp groups have been introduced to address these issues. They allow farmers to access real-time prices, connect directly with buyers, post produce online, and receive digital payments, improving transparency, efficiency, and profitability (Mala, 2023; Ningish et al., 2024) [5,7] . In Karnataka, where crops like fruits, vegetables, and flowers are widely grown, some farmers are adopting these tools effectively, while others still rely on traditional methods due to lack of digital skills, poor internet, or hesitation. By conducting an exploration across the Chikkaballapur district, insights can be gained into how digital tools are being utilized by farmers to promote their agricultural products. The digital tools being used, the level of success achieved, the advantages experienced, and the challenges faced are examined. The extent of accessibility among farmers, their purposes of using these digital tools, and the types of constraints and scopes by use of these tools have also analyzed. In recent years, digital marketing in agriculture has gained significant momentum in India. The Electronic National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) has been expanded to more than 1,260 APMC mandis across 22 states and 3 Union Territories, with over 1.7 crore farmers registered and trade transactions exceeded ₹2 lakh crore as of 2023. Rural smartphone penetration has crossed 75 per cent, supported by initiatives such as Digital India and PM-WANI, which are aimed at improving internet access and digital connectivity. Substantial public investment has been made to strengthen this ecosystem, with ₹14,903 crore allocated under the Digital India programme in 2023 and ₹750 crore earmarked for the expansion of e-NAM up to 2025. www.extensionjournal.com

In terms of digital agricultural transactions, states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra have emerged as top performers. The state of Karnataka contributed more than ₹12,000 crore in total e-NAM transactions in 2022-2023 alone, with mandis in Raichur and Hubli recording high amounts of digital transactions. Despite the promotion of digital platforms for agricultural marketing in India, field-level evidence on farmers' usage, constraints, and perceived benefits remains limited, especially in semi-arid regions like Chikkaballapur district of Karnataka. The present study addresses this gap with the empirical evidence in this context. Objectives 1. To analyze the accessibility and purpose of using digital platforms in agricultural marketing among the farmers. 2. To examine the scope and constraints of using digital platforms in agricultural marketing.

Materials and Methods

Selection of Study Area

Chikkaballapur district of Karnataka has an agriculturebased economy, with major crops like flowers, millets, vegetables, and grapes. With trade liberalization, both government and corporate sectors are promoting digital transformation for faster transactions. These factors make Chikkaballapur an ideal area to study the use and performance of digital platforms in agricultural marketing.

Research Design

A mixed-methods approach, both qualitative and quantitative techniques are used.

The quantitative aspect captures measurable data like the number of farmers using digital tools, accessibility and purposes of using the digital tools.

The qualitative analysis involves study of farmers faced the challenges for use of digital tools and scopes related to use of digital tools.

Sampling Procedure

A multi-stage simple sampling method was adopted to ensure fair representation of farmers using different marketing methods. In the first stage, two taluks-Chintamani and Sidlaghatta-were randomly selected from Chikkaballapur district, considering their agricultural importance and use of digital tools. In the second stage, two villages from each taluk were chosen randomly: Oolavadi and Kadiri (Chintamani), and Thippenahalli and Devanahalli (Sidlaghatta). In the final stage, they were 30 farmers per village. Thus, finally 120 respondent farmers were selected from these villages to collect the primary data with pre-tested and well-structured schedule during the year 2025-26. And the collected data was analyzed by using the analytical tools and techniques.

Percentage Analysis

Percentage analysis is used to describe the proportion of respondents or responses that fall into different categories. It helps to summarize categorical data effectively. It was used to describe the demographic and socio-economic profiles of the respondent farmers

Average (Mean) Analysis

The arithmetic mean, commonly known as the average, is a measure of central tendency used to summarize a set of numbers. It is calculated by adding up all the values in a data-set and then dividing the sum by the number of observations.

Formula: Mean=

Total Weighted Score (TWS) and Mean Weighted Score (MWS) Total Weighted Score (TWS) It is the total score a statement gets when the number of responses is multiplied by their weights on the 5-point Likert scale (Strongly Agree = 5 to Strongly Disagree = 1). Mean Weighted Score (MWS) It is the average score, calculated by dividing the TWS by the total number of respondents. This method helps to understand how strongly farmers agree or disagree with each statement about the constraints and scope of digital tools.

Results and Discussion

Demographic Profile of the Respondent Farmers Table 1 tells that the average age of farmers ranged from 38.6 to 42.5 years, with small farmers being marginally older, and an overall mean age of 40.2 years. Male respondents predominated across landholding categories, particularly among medium farmers (75%), while female participation was higher among marginal farmers (62.8%), resulting in an overall distribution of 57.5 per cent males and 42.5 per cent females, consistent with the findings of Shreyas and Devaru (2023) [8] . Most of the respondents (85%) were married, which is consistent with the traditional rural agricultural structure. In contrast, marginal farmers had a comparatively greater percentage of unmarried respondents. The average years of schooling were highest among medium farmers (10.1), followed by marginal (9.5) and small farmers (9.2), with an overall mean of 9.6 years, indicating that farmers with larger landholdings tend to have slightly better educational attainment. ) informal yet presently it is a successful method that allow farmers to exchange crop or purchasers directly.

Accessibility of Various Digital Platforms among Respondent Farmers

The Table 2 tells that the frequency of usage of various digital platforms for agricultural purposes by farmers is displayed. UMP is the most used digital platform. here, 96.66% respondent farmers indicated that they utilized it always, and none say they "rarely" utilized it. despite this, e-Samridhi is found to be the rarely used digital platform, with 62.5% respondent farmers rarely using it. 0.83% of respondents using it always, 36.66% using it occasionally. And 61.67% of respondents engaged with e-NAM occasionally, while 37.5% of respondents used it always. Only 0.83% respondent farmers stated that they rarely used it. Similarly, social media was frequently used by 31.66% respondents. And 66.66% respondents utilised it occasionally, and only 1.66% use it rarely. Finally, Krishi Bandhu was engaged with 70.83% 0f respondent farmers occasionally and 15% of respondents engaged rarely with Krishi Bandhu digital platform. The results were in confirmation with the findings of Chaudhari and Anute (2020) [2] who identified that how farmers improve their market accessibility and profitability by utilizing the digital platforms like e-Nam, social media and mobile application.

Use of Digital Tools for Various Purposes

The Table 3 showed that how different digital tools had been used by farmers for three main purposes: obtaining information, marketing produce, and purchasing specific products. Among all tools, Social-media had been the most widely used for information, being used by 88 farmers (73.34%), although its use for marketing by 29 farmers (24.16%) and for product purchases by only Lack of access to necessary devices, such as laptops or cellphones, is another major problem; this got a mean score of 4.12. This indicates that some farmers lack the fundamental equipment required for the transition to digital farming. Finally, with a mean score of 3.92, the lack of high-speed internet in rural regions was also noted as a constraint.

The results highlight that the main barriers to using digital tools in agriculture marketing are related to internet connectivity, power supply, infrastructure quality, and access to devices. The results agreed with the findings of Jena et al. (2023) [3] , Kanchana and Singh (2023) [4] , Vasumathi and Arun (2021) [9] who reported that the major constraints of using digital tools included inadequate access, internet connectivity, poor infra-structure, etc. which were the significant problems. The results were in conformation with the findings of Bhuva and Vyas (2020) [1] , Mishra et al. (2020) [6] , Kanchan and Singh (2023) [4] who reported that farmers got benefited from digital marketing from reduced reliance on middlemen, direct market access.

Conclusion

The research study confirms that Unified Market Platform (UMP) was the most preferred and consistently used digital platform, with nearly 96.6% of respondent farmers reporting regular usage, indicating its strong acceptance in agricultural marketing. e-NAM and social media exhibit moderate adoption, primarily used on an occasional basis for marketing and information dissemination, respectively, while Krishi Bandhu was selectively used for purchasing specific product inputs. In contrast, e-Samridhi shows very low usage, reflecting limited awareness and acceptance among farmers. Overall, farmers adopted the digital tools based on specific functional needs such as information access, marketing, and daily agricultural requirements.

These findings indicate that connectivity and infrastructurerelated issues constituted the major barriers to effective digital tool usage. The major constraints for application of digital mode of marketing were inconsistent and unreliable internet connectivity. Besides, power cut, infrastructure, digital devices, etc. were confirmed to be the other constraints. Despite these constraints, farmers perceived strong scope in digital platforms, particularly for real-time market access, direct farmer-to-buyer transactions, and improved market reach, while secure digital payments also show promising potential. However, the role of digital tools in job creation is perceived as relatively limited. Thus, the overall study, shows that the digital platforms are

Acknowledgement

www.extensionjournal.com becoming increasingly significant in agricultural marketing. UMP, e-NAM, Krishi Bandhu etc. Were the front liners digital media which were found to be preferred by the respondent farmers.

References

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