DR BANARSI LAL
The agricultural sector is helpful to enhance the income of rural people. Many developing nations are utilizing the several modern technologies to modernize commercial agriculture. Media possesses the potential to pave the way towards a progressive change. Media acts a vehicle to disseminate information from one place to another. It influences every aspect of life and every occupation. Mass media contributes to the lives of the rural people providing the contents related to agriculture, education, health environment etc. In agricultural sector, the media has an important role in accessing the agro information on daily basis. Mass media information is helpful to improve the agricultural sector by improving the knowledge of the farmers. In agricultural sector, the use of electronic media is crucial to keep the farming community updated well ahead of time. Present Indian extension system is under tremendous pressures where the extension workers, have to cater not only vast population but also to perform input supply, administrative, election and other works. Under these circumstances, it is not practically possible to serve all the farmers, all the time for all the problems at all places when ratio of extension worker and farmer, the sender and receiver is more than 1:1000. Therefore, the potential of mass media can be exploited to serve the rural population in this direction. Communication in agriculture is not only to inform and create awareness among the farmers but also to implement new ideas that change the mode of farming. Village extension workers (VEWs) inform the farmers about the new technologies, but they are not keeping pace with the advancement of technical know-how. Secondly, the message has to travel through many stages from its source to the ultimate users. Due to this hierarchical transfer sometimes it loses its meaning and originality. Communication is the vital aspect to change the behaviour of the receiver. As a matter of fact, no executive can be successful without communicating effectively with his superiors or subordinates. Messages could be in the form of words, symbols, signs, letters or actions. The importance of communication has been greatly emphasized by all the management experts. Communication is like a part of an individual’s life as well as organizational existence. Its importance is self-explanatory and is having common experience of all as well. The population of our country has already been crossed 1.40 billion and is still increasing alarmingly. It is really creating an immense pressure on the food grain production and other resources. Roughly it has been observed that there is an increase in per capita availability of food grain in India but still there is lot to be achieved. In order to achieve the desired results ,Indian farmers really need to make the best use available modern high production oriented technologies .It has been observed that out of available agricultural technologies with research system, only thirty to forty per cent are transferred to the farmers. It is therefore needed to bring the remedial change in the system of technology transfer.
Today electronisation and mechanisation of communication technology is multiplying every day. There is need to make proper use of such communication technologies for the benefits of mankind. Electronic media have really revolutionized the communication process .Electronic media like computer; internet etc. can play the significant role in transfer of high tech agriculture from global pockets to Indian farmer’s field. The modern communication technologies play crucial role in transfer of improved agricultural practices to the farmers’. These technologies have the potential to ignite the flame of interest in the farmers. Electronic media is also important for the farmers residing in far-flung areas which are lesser accessible to extension functionaries. Television has major strides in dissemination of agricultural information even in rural areas. Among new electronic technologies computers,internet, videotapes, interactive computer video technology (ICVT) etc.and video information deserve close scrutiny their use. Electronic media can be categorised in three groups as simple electronic media, advanced electronic media and other modern electronic media. Radio, television and videotapes are said to be simple electronic media because they do not need the complexities for their operation and maintenance as compared to others. Radio broadcasting in India started in 1927 and All India Radio (AIR) was established in 1936 that became Akashwani in 1957.Presently radio signal covers almost the whole country. The local radio stations are ideally suited to the dissemination of farm technologies according to different agro-climatic region. Television in India began modestly on September 15; 1959.TV is very useful electronic medium for transfer of information and entertainment. A programme known as Krishi Darshan was started on 26th January 1967 especially for the farmers.TV is considered as an important source of information and is taken as authentic, trustworthy and prestigious medium for promoting interaction and dissemination of agricultural information.TV is very easy to handle and also easy to carry. Videotape and video information are ideal medium for awareness among the farmers towards new technologies and is also helpful for motivation and change in behaviour of the farmers. Internet, interactive computer video technology (ICVT) and computer aided systems are said to advance electronic media. These media involve more technicalities in their operation. Use of internet is increasing at a rapid speed. It is cheaper than fax and teletext. Through internet the scientists can gain instant access to the world’s most advanced research facilities, can discuss their research problems with the others. The district or stage extension agencies can create their own home pages or internet for farmers use. Farmers of one place can exchange their experiences and information with the farmers of another place. Interactive video technology is an amazing device for the storage and retrieval of audio and video information. In this system the learners control the system through the computers for his interaction with the video recoded material chosen for learning. It can be used for training of extension personnel. The Chennai Dialogue Information Technology (1992) chaired by Dr. M.S Swaminathan resulted in proposal for the establishment of computer Aided Agricultural Extension (CAEs) and Information Village (IV).The purpose of Computer Aided Agricultural Extension (CAEs) is to generate and disseminate information for a locality in different areas e.g. pest and disease information, remote sensing, marketing information on different enterprises like aquaculture, waterharvesting, apiculture etc. The videotext, teletext and videoconferencing have been under the category of modern electronic media. We can disseminate the text and graphic information through videotext and then can be received either by a videotext television or on an ordinary television. A video coupled with a microcomputer permits editing as well as retrieval of information on videotext page. The video transmitted via telephone, data lines, cables etc. is called interactive videotext. It can be used in training programmes. The videotext transmission based on broadcast signals is called teletext. Teletext links a computer to a television by which text and graphic information can be disseminated on a one way basis to home viewers. Video conferencing is a two way conferencing of two or more sites that help in communication in real sense. It can be widely used for educational purpose and is helpful for quick feedback by involving more people. The electronic media can play a crucial role in the dissemination of improved agricultural innovations. Electronic media has tremendous potential for use in agricultural development. Computer networking at local, national and international level can establish a good linkage for dissemination and sharing agricultural information. But a responsible electronic communication media should be clean, comprehensive, and competent and should present the real information.
(The writer is Sr. Scientist and Head of KVK, Reasi SKUAST-J)
