Main Article Content
Abstract
The past decade is characterized by major changes in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) environment in agriculture worldwide. It has changed from hand held calculators and batch processing of management data at central service centers to adoption of on-farm information management facilities, computer embedded process control devices, remote sensing with spatial data utilization, and more, with almost all of them endowed with communication capabilities. Adoption of ICT is far from universal to the detriment of farmers and the agricultural sector. Accordingly current studies are now evaluating what information farmers, extension personnel and researchers really need what are the main constraints for adopting ICT. The Indian agricultural sector shares these concerns and is no exception in seeking answers. An evaluation of the Indian scene suggests that market information and weather updates are of prime interest; illiteracy, cost and lack of awareness are the major adoption constraints. Human capital enhancement was understood to be the main remedial factor to change the low rate of ICT adoption and its effectiveness. To address these issues a policy frame work for the nascent Agricultural Information Technology sector is suggested