The online culture of agriculture: exploring social media readiness of agricultural professionals

摘要

Agriculture is of high importance in India because of the dependence of 140 million farmers on the sector, its implications for a climate smart future, as a supplier of raw materials for industries, and for feeding the large population. Information becomes an important input in the sector to make it sustainable and social media is an important tool. Acceptance and use of social media is skewed across the sector because of multiple factors that ultimately decide its applicability. This study explored social media usage among agricultural extension professionals and their perceived benefits for agricultural development. The study draws data collected through online Google forms distributed through email and social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp) from 269 extension professionals globally and 264 from India and discusses what affects use of social media in professional communication. WhatsApp, Facebook and YouTube were the most preferred platforms because of easier user interface and higher percentage of users, and personal mobile phones were the most preferred mode of access. Organizations were found to be catching up in use of social media but still lagged behind in concrete policies to guide the use of digital tools. The findings strongly advocate increased use of social media in agricultural extension and advisory services.