Extension Workers’ Attitude towards e-Agriculture: A case study from Bangladesh

International Journal Of Agricultural Science, Research And Technology In Extension And Education Systems

مقاله 5، دوره 9، شماره 3، آذر 2019، صفحه 149-162   

نوع مقاله: Original Article

نویسندگان

Mohammad Sarker^{* 1}؛ Asif Kaiser²؛ Md. Abdul Miah¹

¹Professor Department of Agricultural Extension Education, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh

²MSc Student Department of Agricultural Extension Education, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh

چکیده

e-Agriculture is being the utmost desire for the sustainable development world over. The research was designed to assess extension workers’ attitude towards e-Agriculture in general. The methodology of this study is an integration of quantitative and qualitative methods based on primary data collection. The study was conducted in two upazilas (sub-districts) of Mymensingh district, namely Mymensingh Sadar and Fulbaria. Data were collected from 78 Sub-Assistant Agriculture Officers (SAAOs) out of total population of 78 following whole population sampling . The empirical data for the study were collected by using distributed questionnaire during weekly conference day at their respective sub-district headquarters. Extreme majorities (94.9 percent) of the extension workers were found to have moderately favourable attitude and 3.8 percent had highly favourable attitude towards e-Agriculture. On the other hand, only 1.3 percent of the SAAOs had slightly favourable attitude towards e-Agriculture. The findings also revealed that, annual income, knowledge on e-Agriculture, access to ICT facilities and use of media associate with e-Agriculture of the SAAOs had positive and significant relationships with their attitude while age and service tenure of the SAAOs were found to have significant negative relationships with their attitude towards e-Agriculture. However, level of education, family size, information sources regarding e-Agriculture, training received on e-Agriculture and job satisfaction of the SAAOs did not show any significant relationship with their attitude towards e-Agriculture.

کلیدواژه‌ها

e-Agriculture؛ extension workers؛ and farm information

مراجع

1. Abdon, B., Raab, R. and Ninomiya, S. (2014).  E-Learning for International Agriculture Development: Dealing with Challenges. International Journal of Education and Information and Communication Technology, 4 (1): 80-94.
2. AIS. (2017). Agriculture Information Service. Ministry of Agriculture, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. Retrieved from, http://www.ais.gov.bd/
3. Asenso-Okyere, K. and Mekonnen, D.A. (2012). The Importance of ICTs in the Provision of Information for Improving Agricultural Productivity and Rural Income in Africa. Working Paper, 2012. International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Addis Ababa.
4. a2i Program. (2014). Digital Bangladesh: E-Sheba Sobar Jonno. Access to Information Program, Prime Minister’s Office, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
5. Bagozzi, R.P., Davis, F.D. and Warshaw, P.R. (1992). "Development and Test of a Theory of Technological Learning and Usage."Human Relations, 45 (7): 660–686.
6. BBS. (2017). Statistical Year Book, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of Planning, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. 2017.
7. Chamala, S. and Shingi, P.M. (2010).  Establishing and Strengthening Farmer organizations, In B.E Swanson et al, (eds.), Improving Agricultural Extension: A Reference Manual.
8. Davis, F.D. (1989). "Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, and User Acceptance of Information Technology". MIS Quarterly, 13 (3): 319–340.
9. FAO. (2005). Bridging the Rural Digital Divide. Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, Italy, p.1.

10. GoB. (2012). Rio+20: National Report on Sustainable Development Goal. Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh (GoB), May, 2012.

11. Hafkin, N.J. and Odame, H.H. (2006). Gender, ICTs and Agriculture. Retrieved From, http://www.genderandenvironment.org/index.php?lang=en.

12. Islam, R. and Rashid, S.M.M. (2016). Farmers’Attitude towards e-Agriculture in Bangladesh. American Journal of Social and Management Science, 7 (1): 12-18.

13. Karim, M.A. (2010). Digital Bangladesh for Good Governance. Prime Minister’s Office, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

14. Meera, S.N., Jhamtani, A. and Rao, D.U.M. (2014). Information and Communication Technology in Agricultural Development: A Comparative Analysis of Three Projects from India. AgREN, Agricultural Research and Extension Network No. 135.

15. MoA. (2003). ICT Taskforce Program. Ministry of Agriculture. Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

16. NAEP. (2012). National Agricultural Extension Policy (NAEP). Ministry of Agriculture, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

17. New Agriculturist. (2015). e-Krishok:  Promoting ICTs to Farmers in Bangladesh. Retrieved from, http://www.new-ag.info/en/focus/focusItem.php?a=2779.

18. Raihan, A., Hasan, M., Chowdhury, M. and Uddin, F., 2005. Pallitathya Help Line: A Precursor to People's Call Center. A D.Net Publication, November 2005.

19. Sadek, S. (2016).  Digital Extension System in Agriculture, learning from Bangladesh, 16 March, 2016. Retrieved from, http://www.e-agriculture.org/blog/digital-extension-system-agriculture-learning-bangladesh.

20. Sarker, M.A. and Itohara, Y. (2007). Information Sources Used by the Farmers Regarding Practice of Organic Farming. Journal of Rural Problems, 43(1), 234-239

21. Venkatesh, V. (2000). "Determinants of perceived ease of use: Integrating Control, Intrinsic Motivation, and Emotion into the Technology Acceptance Model", Information Systems Research, 11 (4), 342–365.

22. Wikipedia. (2017). Mymensingh District, Bangladesh. Retrieved from, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mymensingh_District.

23. Woods, J., Raab, R.T. and Abdon, B. (2002). ICTs, e-learning, and Simulations: Bringing Knowledge Intensive Management to Asian Agriculture, Paper presented at International Federation of Information Processing 9.4 Conference, Bangalore, India, 28-31 May 2002.

24. Zijp, W. (2004). Improving the Transfer and Use of Agricultural Information-A Guide to Information Technology. Washington DC: World Bank.