Effectiveness of Mobile based Agro-Advisory Services in Addressing Information Need of the Stakeholders: A Case of m KRISHI®

Abstract

Many information and communication technology (ICT) projects in Indian agriculture have emerged, either substituting
or supporting extension services by providing access to agricultural information to the farmers, but its access to the
farmers in remote villages is restricted due to the lack of infrastructure. It creates information asymmetry among farmers.
Telecommunication, especially mobile phones have the potential to provide solution to the existing information
asymmetry in various lagging sectors like agriculture. mKRISHI® is one such project which made significant
contribution in information dissemination in some parts of India. The present study was undertaken for assessing its
effectiveness in information dissemination to the farmers in two districts of Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu where
mKRISHI® was working for the last six years. Data were collected from 60 respondents from the mKRISHI® member
farmers. The effectiveness was measured by effectiveness index developed for the purpose. The study revealed that the
extension services rendered by mKRISHI® were found to be highly effective by majority of the farmers (46.66 %).