SUBJECT IV ROLE OF ICT IN DISSEMINATION OF KNOWLEDGE IN AGRICULTURE SECTOR - ITS EFFICACY AND SCOPE ICT Initiatives in Indian Agriculture - An Overview

Agriculture is an important sector of the Indian economy as it contributes about 17 per cent to the total gross domestic product (GDP) and provides employment to over 60 per cent of the population. Indian agriculture has registered impressive growth over the last few decades. The foodgrain production has increased from 51 million tonnes (MT) in 1950-51 to 234 MT from 122 million hectares in 2008-09. The production of oilseeds (nine major oilseeds) has also increased from 5 MT to 28 MT during the same period. The rapid growth has helped Indian agriculture mark its presence at the global level. India stands among top three in terms of production of various agricultural commodities like paddy, wheat, pulses, groundnut, rapeseeds, fruits, vegetables, sugarcane, tea, jute, cotton, tobacco leaves, etc (Government of India, 2008-09). In spite of this formidable growth, the huge challenges facing Indian agriculture are to further increase the production to keep pace with the ever increasing demand from growing population. The productivity is hampered due to non-availability of modern inputs, poor physical infrastructure and more so information on various issues in agriculture. Indian agrarian economy is characterised by low degree of market integration and connectivity, accessibility of reliable and timely information by the farmers on prices of commodities. To fulfill the expectations of the conscious buyers, price and quality, globalisation and liberalisation and maintain the viability of small and marginal farm to retain them in the farming, application of technology in agriculture has become inevitable. The development and application of better customised technologies specific to agro-climatic conditions, farm size and level of agricultural development is the real challenge ahead for the policy makers. The bane of Indian agriculture is not lack of technologies and R&D efforts but inadequate and inefficient dissemination of relevant information to the farming sector (Bahl, 2008). In most of the developing countries, much of the agricultural information has been found out of date and irrelevant that is not applicable to small farmers’ needs, leaving such farmers with very little information or resources to improve their productivity (Meera