User centric ICT model for supply chain of horticultural crops in India.

Considering the immediate need to integrate the supply chain of horticultural crops by providing needbased information to different players mainly farmers, the paper has analyzed various aspects like information needs, sources of information and their reliability, factors responsible for willingness to pay for information and parameters of an ideal information dissemination system under the Indian conditions. The study is based on a sample of farmers from three districts of Madhya Pradesh and has revealed that farmers are the vital link in the supply chain of horticultural crops with a vast range of information requirements. This information may be delivered effectively using ICT, mainly mobile phones, which are being utilized by two-thirds of the farmers in the study area. Age, education level and irrigation have been found the factors defining the willingness of a farmer to pay for having access to information. To promote use of ICT for the effective and timely dissemination of information, a user-centric model has been envisaged which has suggested adoption of an integrated approach for information delivery to farmers. The study has also made some recommendations like increasing the reach of mobile phones, making ICT more farmer-friendly, and encouraging the corporate sector in having revenue model for information dissemination as majority of the farmers’ are willing to pay.