Socio-economic impact of mobile phone in agriculture: A case study of Karnal district

The people's dependency on information technology is rapidly increasing day by day. In agricultural sector also mobile technology promises an effective method of information exchange. The present study assesses the impact of use of mobile phone for the coordination and management of agricultural activities and access to agricultural inputs, outputs, markets and prices. This study was conducted in the rural areas of an agriculturally developed district namely Karnal of Haryana state in India. The study is based on primary data collected through personal interviews on well-structured schedules. Sample includes 60 farmers of different farm size groups, 15 each from marginal, small, medium and large farms. The results revealed that more than 90 per cent of the farmers were using their mobile phones for coordination of agricultural operations, access to agricultural inputs, information of output prices, monitoring of financial transactions and coping agricultural emergency situations. Nearly 50 per cent farmers were consulting with experts via mobile phones. Further analysis showed that farmers were able to save more than 90 per cent of expenditures in terms of time and cost by use of mobiles. Also 80 per cent of farmers reported that use of mobiles improved their livelihood.