A STUDY ON THE USAGE OF RADIO IN AGRICULTURAL MANAGEMENT PRACTICES BY THE FARMERS OF THANJAVUR DISTRICT

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International Journal of Management (IJM)
Volume 10, Issue 2, March–April 2019, pp.210-218, Article ID: IJM_10_02_022
Available online at https://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJM?Volume=10&Issue=2
ISSN Print: 0976-6502 and ISSN Online: 0976-6510
DOI: 10.34218/IJM.10.2.2019.022
© IAEME Publication Scopus Indexed
A STUDY ON THE USAGE OF RADIO IN
AGRICULTURAL MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
BY THE FARMERS OF THANJAVUR DISTRICT
Dr. A. Sivagami
Assistant Professor and Head, Department of Social Work, Government Arts and Science
College for Women, (Affiliated to Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli),
Orathanadu, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India
R. Samundeeswari
Research Scholar, Department of Social Work, Government Arts and Science
College for Women, (Affiliated to Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli),
Orathanadu, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India
ABSTRACT
Agricultural information plays a vital role in agricultural development as well as in
improving the livelihoods of farmers. Though modern communication tools play a vital
role, Radio help the farmers to improve agricultural yield through access to information
in order to avail basic financial services, new techniques of agriculture and new
marketing strategies and in turn supporting them to get better prices for crops and good
return on investment. Radio provides recent, up-to-date information on crop prices,
which helps the farmers in saving time and money. It ensures the farmers to bargain a
deal with the traders and merchants and improves the marketing strategies to sell their
harvest. Radio Programmes enable the farmers to understand the important weather
data and they manage their crops accordingly. The main objective of the study is to
analyse the usage of radio information in agricultural practices by the farmers of
Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu. The researchers adopted a descriptive research
design. Multilevel sampling was adopted in selecting the respondents for this study.
Simple random sampling was adopted for selecting the respondents and thus 220
completed interview schedules were selected out of 383 respondents who were
interviewed. The study concludes that radio is useful for receiving vital messages
related to seed availability, weather, availability of loans, market price and also
information on highly profitable products.
Key words: Agriculture, Radio, Farmers, Information Technology.
Cite this Article: A. Sivagami and R. Samundeeswari, A Study on the Usage of Radio in
Agricultural Management Practices by the Farmers of Thanjavur District, International Journal
of Management (IJM), 10(2), 2019, pp. 210-218.
https://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJM?Volume=10&Issue=2

A Study on the Usage of Radio in Agricultural Management Practices by the Farmers of
Thanjavur District
1. INTRODUCTION
All India Radio (AIR) was set up in 1936 and the Radio broadcasting was started in India since
1927 which became "Akashwani" in 1957. Ten intensive Farm and Home units had been
established in 1965 at selected stations to provide facts and technical information and utility
messages to the farming community. Farmers got a high appreciation to it as it was reliable
source of information and latest farming technology for them, and they also informed the same
to rural women irrespective of their literacy level and socio economic status. Radio Rural Forum
is a amalgamation of mass media and interpersonal communication, in which small groups of
organized individuals regularly meet and receive a mass media programme and used to discuss
its message and forward their doubts/clarifications to be replied by the original broadcaster or
the expert via the convener who has the records and gets reply to the queries. Radio forums are
being helpful in creating greater awareness, creating confidence and rising positive attitude
among the farmers and rural youth about the modern creative farm technologies.
1.1. TNAU Community Radio Station
It was operated under the name “Vivasayee FM” (107.4 MHz) and the rural community got
benefit within 20 kms distance. Several programmes on farmers success stories, special
technologies, community development etc., are being broadcasted. All the programmes are
being uploaded in the TNAU Agritech Portal.
1.2. Changing Agricultural Scenario and Information Needs
Information Communication Technology balances to complement extension efforts of
agricultural sector for transfer of technology. Farmers have more specific information
requirements. The main objective of ICT in agriculture is meeting the farmers needs an
agriculture and its related information. The following are some of the needs of farmers which
seem to be imperative for the development and growth of agriculture.
Market information: Marketing information with price updates of agricultural produce of
surrounding districts is required by the farmers on a daily basis. The price updates of markets
for farmers outside their villages have a high priority enabling them to compare.
Information on latest techniques and technologies: Continuous development in technology
carries up gradation of agricultural techniques and machinery too. Upto-date information
regarding the latest technologies in agriculture and animal husbandry has great importance for
growth.
Information on rural development programs and subsidies: The objective of the initiative
is to provide information on Government initiatives in detail for farmers and rural community.
The areas which suffer from floods. droughts, or natural disasters receive grants and subsidies
from the Government programmes. Information and procedures related to these programs are
particularly vital to small and marginal farmers.
1.3. Review of Literature
Chhachhar et al. (2014) illustrated that Information and communication technologies are
increasing day by day among different communities for obtaining the information about related
issues, problems and their solutions. Most of the developing countries have obtained fruitful
results from the use of new technologies. Internet, mobile phones, radio and television are the
most important tools of communication providing knowledge and information to farmers about
agriculture. By using these technologies in different countries positive results in agriculture
development have been found. In remote areas radio is still the favorite tool of communication,
broadcasting many agriculture programs while television contributes more to disseminating

A. Sivagami and R. Samundeeswari
information about agriculture in developing countries. Furthermore, mobile phones had
diminished the gaps between farmers and buyers. Farmers nowadays speak with the customers
directly and get better price for their agricultural produce.
Sher Muhammad et al. (2012) mentioned that effective use of electronic media seems
essential to keep farmers abreast of the latest agricultural information and technologies for
meeting the emerging challenges of the new era. The current role of e-media in information
dissemination of agriculture among the farmers is questionable, that calls for a comprehensive
study on indepth analysis of e-media to increase their role in transfer if agricultural technology.
The analysis of the data shows that TV appeared relatively more prominent than radio as
agriculture information source. It was found from the study that audio and video cassettes and
internet had the least role in information dissemination of agriculture to the farmers at grass
root level. The strong areas of agriculture information were livestock sector and major crops
both in radio and TV broadcasts. Within the major categories, the weakest side was the
marketing aspect. In case of TV, short messages and advertisements were more popular among
farmers than “Kisan Time” and “Haryali”.
Collence T Chisita (2010) investigated the provision of agricultural information to small
farmers in Zimbabwe. It seeks to find out the methods and means of disseminating agricultural
information to the small scale farmers in Harare, Zimbabwe. It described how Information and
Communication Technology has impacted on the dissemination of agricultural information.
They explained how ICTs are impacting on agricultural production among small scale farmers
in Zimbabwe. They mentioned that the current ICT driven projects aimed at facilitating access
to agricultural information to farmers. The role of libraries, schools, and Agricultural Research
Extension (AREX) services in providing agricultural information towards sustaining
agriculture were described. The use of alternative media like radio, television, and broadcasting
to disseminate agricultural information the challenges of using such media to communicate
agricultural information to small scale farmers were also mentioned.
1.4. Statement of the problem
The farmers need a considerable quantity of information and services on supply of inputs, new
technologies on farming; early warning related to natural disasters, market supply and demand,
its price and the information on competitors and mobile is an important tool of information
dissemination. But a few farmers refuse to use these new technologies due to their ignorance
and low level of literacy. Ignorance and low level of literacy for which they have to be guided
and motivated adequately for the effective use of these techno devices, which ultimately leads
to the benefit of farmers.
1.5. Significance of the study
The situation of marginal farmers has become worse over the years in India. They are trapped
in a web of miseries from which they are unable to break away. Their geographical isolation,
social fragmentation and economic deprivation add to the complexity of the crisis. Secondly,
as ICT has the potential to aid people in bridging barriers it is assumed that ICT can aid the
marginal farmers too. Moreover, the significance of ICT for socio-economic development of
poor people has been highlighted in a number of studies (Gigler 2004; Slater and Tacchi 2004;
Garai and Shadrach 2006) that focus on the productive uses of ICT. These studies showed as to
how ICT can offer new solutions to long-standing rural development problems by enabling
rural people to achieve a higher standard of life.

Thanjavur District
1.6. Scope of the Study
The present study provides in formation that one received by the farmers on agricultural
practices in Thanjavur district and this may enable radio provide key players to improve their
package on agriculture. Radio provides an open two way dialogue that is inclusive accessible
and affordable. It has the potential to reach vulnerable and resource poor communities. While
also establishing a feed back and monitoring system through the use of other technologies. It
provides an opportunity for information and resource provision at a large scale yet can also be
available in local language.
1.7. Objectives of the Study
• To correlate the scio demographic profile of the respondents with related variables of
the respondents towards the use of radio technology.
• To analyze the methods utilized by the respondents and the types of services provided
through radio.
• To study the perception of the respondents towards use of radio in Agriculture activities.
1.8. Operational Definition
• ICT: ICT is a technology icon system that supports activities involving information.
Such activities include gathering, processing, storing and presenting data. Increasingly
these activities also involve collaboration and communication.
• ICT In Agriculture: Information and communication technology in agriculture (ICT in
agriculture), also known as e-agriculture, is developing and applying innovative ways
to use ICTs in the rural domain, with a primary focus on agriculture. ICT in agriculture
offers a wide range of solutions to some agricultural challenges.
• Radio : Radio programmes can serve a number of communication functions including:
enabling active listening (to find out farmers' preferences, needs, opinions, etc.); raising
awareness of services, events, or programmes; disseminating information and
facilitating discussion about the information; hosting campaigns on behaviour.
• Farmers : A farmer (also called an agriculturer) is a person engaged in agriculture,
raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people
who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other
livestock.
1.9. Research Method
The researcher adopted a descriptive research design for the present study. Multi level sampling
was adopted in selecting the respondents for this study. Thanjavur district in Tamil Nadu had
been selected by purposive sampling being the district as “Rice Bowl of Tamil Nadu”. At block
level, again purposive sampling was adopted and selected 6 blocks, viz, Ammapettai,
Pappansam, Kumbakonam, Thiruvaiyaru, Thiruvidaimaruthur, Thiruppanthal, on the basis of
old kaveri delta region. Simple random sampling was adopted for selecting the respondents
from the given the list of farmers who got registered with Agriculure Extension Office in each
block. The number of respondents chosen from each block was 53 from Ammapettai, 78 from
Pappanasam, 86 from Kumbakonam ; 39 from Thiruvaiyaru ; 69 from Thiruvidaimaruthr and
58 from Thiruppanthal and thus 220 completed interview schedules were selected out of 383
respondents who were interviewed.

2. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
2.1. ICT Through Radio
• More than half (57.4 percent) of the respondents had the habit of listening radio and
42.6 percent of the respondents did not have the habit of listening radio. This concludes
that most of the farmers have access to radio, as it is understandable, portable,
affordable, and easy to maintain.
• More than half i.e. 51.8 percent of the respondents kept their radio at home and listen,
36.8 percent of the respondents were listening during their working time in agricultural
field. It reveals that most of the agriculture related information is being broadcasted in
the early morning and hence the farmers listened to Radio at their home.
• Half (48.7 percent) of the respondents felt that agriculture related news were being
broadcasted in radio, which helped them in their agriculture, more than one fourth (28.2
percent) of the respondents opined that it was not related. Through radio the farmers
also learn marketing their agricultural produce and thus their economic development
may probably be improved.
• One third (42.3 percent) of the respondents agreed that radio programmes were useful
in getting day today market prices of agricultural produces, 24.1 percent of the
respondents informed that it provided information related to control pest, 14.5 percent
of the respondents informed that they have learnt organic agricultural practices. It
concludes that most of the farmers were listening radio and hence they learnt
information related to farming. Further the farmers reported that the radio programmes
were very informative .
• More than half (58.6 percent) of the respondents agreed that the radio programmes
related to agriculture were able to attain their needs and remaining one third of the (41.4
percent) of the respondents disagreed with this opinion.
• One third of the respondents (35.7 percent) opined that the they learnt modern
technology though radio programmes. More than one fourth of the respondents (24
percent) opined that Radio programmes were useful in improving their agricultural
production. The study clearly stated that majority of the (62.6 percent) respondents said
that timing of radio programme was not suitable for listening. More than one third of
the respondents said that the radio programme related to agriculture lacked clarity in
delivery. The farmers also felt that the programmes related to agricultural production
may be repeated during the convenient time of farmers enabling them to listen and
utilize it in their agricultural activities.

Thanjavur District
Figure 1
Table 1 Distribution of Respondents by their habit of listening Radio
S.N
o
Particulars No. of respondents Percentage
1
2
Listening Radio
Not Listening Radio
220
163
57.4
42.6
Total 383 100
Reason for not listening
1
2
3
Lack of radio
Lack of time
Irrelevant Programme
103
28
32
63.2
17.2
19.6
Total 163 100
The table shows that more than half (57.4 percent) of the respondents had the habit of
listening radio and 42.6 percent of the respondents did not have the habit of listening radio.
This concludes that most of the farmers have access to radio, as it is understandable, portable,
affordable, and easy to maintain.
Table 2 Socio Demographic profile of the Respondents and their Habit of Listening Radio
Socio Demographic
Profile of the
respondents
Habit of Listening Radio
Statistical Inference
Yes No Total
n % n % n %
Age
Below 30yrs 33 15.0 25 15.3 58 15.1
X2
= 44.8790
df = 4
0.012<0.05
Significant
31 to 40yrs 49 22.3 29 17.8 78 20.4
41 to 50yrs 78 35.5 68 41.7 146 38.1
51 to 60yrs 21 9.5 41 25.2 62 16.2
61yrs & above 39 17.7 0 .0 39 10.2
Gender

Male
149 67.7 110 67.5 259 67.6
X2
= 0.003
df = 1
0.960>0.05
Not Significant
Female 71 32.3 53 32.5 124 32.4
Marital Status
Unmarried
57 25.9 61 37.4 118 30.8
X2
= 5.823
df = 1
0.016<0.05
Significant
Married 163 74.1 102 62.6 265 69.2
Religion
Hindu 137 62.3 96 58.9 233 60.8 X2
= 0.629
df = 2
0.730>0.05
Not Significant
Christian 53 24.1 45 27.6 98 25.6
Muslim 30 13.6 22 13.5 52 13.6
Caste
Sc/St 48 21.8 48 29.4 96 25.1 X2
= 6.173
df = 3
0.082>0.05
Not Significant
OBC 57 25.9 26 16.0 83 21.7
BC 64 29.1 52 31.9 116 30.3
OC 51 23.2 37 22.7 88 23.0
Educational Qualification
Primary 45 20.5 15 9.2 60 15.7
X2
= 221.840
df = 4
0.025<0.05
Significant
SSLC 4 1.8 104 63.8 108 28.2
Hsc 38 17.3 38 23.3 76 19.8
Graduate 31 14.1 5 3.1 36 9.4
Illiterate 102 46.4 1 .6 103 26.9
Size of family
Small 83 37.7 0 .0 83 21.7 X2
= 80.254
df = 2
0.02<0.05
Significant
Medium 94 42.7 100 61.3 194 50.7
Large 43 19.5 63 38.7 106 27.7
Nature of Agricultural Land
Wet land (Nanjai) 124 56.4 150 92.0 274 71.5 X2
= 58.481
df = 1
0.038<0.05
Significant
Dry land (Punjai) 96 43.6 13 8.0 109 28.5
Type of Agriculture land
Own by purchased 109 49.5 83 50.9 192 50.1 X2
= 5.030
df = 2
0.081>0.05
Not Significant
Traditional asset 54 24.5 26 16.0 80 20.9
By lease 57 25.9 54 33.1 111 29.0
Family members and their support
Yes
170 77.3 135 82.8 305 79.6
X2
= 1.778
df = 1
0.182>0.05
Not Significant
No 50 22.7 28 17.2 78 20.4
Total 220 100.0 163 100.0 383 100.0
Hypothesis : There is no significant relationship between the socio-demographic profile of the
respondents and their habit of listening Radio. The table highlights that there is significant
association between socio-demographic profile of the respondents viz. age, marital status,
education, size of family and type of agricultural land and their habit of listening radio. Chi-
square was used to test the above hypothesis. As the calculated value for variables (age = 0.012,
marital status = 0.016, education = 0.025, size of family = 0.02, type of agricultural land =

Thanjavur District
0.038) is less than the table value 0.05, null hypothesis is rejected and alternate hypothesis is
accepted. There is significant relationship between socio-demographic profile of the
respondents viz. age, marital status, education, size of family and type of agricultural land and
their habit of listening radio.
Table 3 Distribution of Respondents by their Opinion on Radio Programmes
S.No. Particulars No. of respondents Percentage
1
2
3
Helpful for agriculture
Some related to agriculture
Not related to agriculture
107
51
62
48.7
23.2
28.2
Total 220 100
The table reveals that nearly half (48.7 percent) of the respondents felt that agriculture
related news were being broadcasted in radio, which helped them in their agriculture, more then
one fourth (28.2 percent) of the respondents opined that it was not related to agriculture and,
remaining 23.2 percent of the respondents had the opinion that some programmes were related
to agriculture. From the findings, the farmers indicated that they learnt agriculture related skills,
types of farming, diseases and pests control, guidance on practicing farming, how to obtain
market information, and modern technology in agricultural production etc. In addition, to the
above farmers also learn marketing of their agricultural produce and thus their economic
development may probably be improved.
3. RECOMMENDATIONS
• The government may create Community Radio whose purpose may be to propagate
information on agricultural policies of the government and agriculture information on
buying and selling and also about profitability of their products.
• Public participation in management of regional radio stations or production centres
should be encouraged.
• Establishment of farmer driven radio listenership groups, where farmers identify their
needs and programmes are made for them. These programmes are the listened to,
discussed upon and recommendation are made for community action.
• Research messages should be translated into the simplest language possible and
translated to the prevalent languages. The radio programmes should be backed up by
other forms of communication/media.
• Public broadcasters should become independent of government terms of management
and programming so that they can seek other sources of funding for community
programmes and be more adaptive to their audiences requirements.
• Broadcasting regulations need to include a definition of community broadcasting, to
address its particular role and to develop clear mechanisms for financial support of set
up and on-going costs.
4. CONCLUSION
The farm radios across the world that have created awareness among the farmers indicate the
success of such radios. The radios disseminate information across the country side about
modern farming system in terms of hybrid seeds off seasonal varieties, selection of seeds and
marketing of the agricultural products. So the farmers aware about the new. Technologies
market information, hybrid variety of yield that information are very useful to the farmers. This

is called a farm in home the farmers listen the agricultural experts advice, seasonal farming
methods through their door step it will increase the productivity and also their income.
REFERENCES
[1] Nwaerondu, N.G & Thomson, G (1987) The use of educational radio in developing countries :
Lessons from the past. Journal of Distance Education 2(2):43-45
[2] Mclean, polly E. (1992) Radio and Rural Development in Swaziland, African Media Review
Vol-6, No-3 Http:// WWW.Apc.org/fr/blog/ india-look-out-models-skills-community radio.
[3] Jamison, D.T & McAnany, E.G. (1997) Radio for education and development, Sage Publication
: UK.
[4] CEDA (2001) Impact Evaluation of AICC’s Publication, Radio and Television program, Final
report, Economic survey 2011, Government of Nepal.
[5] Chapman,R et al (2003). Rural Radio in Agricultural Extension : The example of vernacular
Radio programme on Soil and Water conservation in North Ghana, UK: Agricultural Research
and Extension and Extension.
[6] Edda Tandi Lwoga (2010) Bridging The Agricultural Knowledge And Information Divide: The
Case Of Selected Telecenters And Rural Radio In Tanzania, The Electronic Journal on
Information Systems in Developing Countries, EJISDC (2010) 43, 6, 1-14.

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