USEFULNESS OF AGRICULTURAL INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION CENTER (AICC) FOR KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION

Abstract

The objectives of this study were (i) to describe the selected socio-economic characteristics of the farmers, (ii) to determine the farmers’ perceived usefulness of AICC for knowledge acquisition and (iii) to explore the contribution of farmers’ selected characteristics to their perceived usefulness of AICC for knowledge acquisition. Data were collected from randomly selected 120 farmers of three upazilas namely; Sariakandi, Dhunat and Sherpur upazila under Bogura district by using an interview schedule during 15 June to 10 July, 2021. The highest proportion (42.2 percent) of the respondent farmers perceived medium usefulness of Agricultural Information and Communication Center (AICC), while 20.8 percent of them perceived less usefulness and 35 percent of them perceived high usefulness of AICC for knowledge acquisition. Moreover, majority (63 percent) of the respondent farmers perceived medium to high usefulness of AICC. More than one-third proportion (34.3 percent) of the farmers faced high barrier in adopting ICT tools, while 34 percent and 31.7 percent farmers faced low and medium barrier respectively in adopting ICT tools. Findings revealed that training received on ICTs, self-efficacy, use of ICT tools and barriers faced by the farmers in adopting ICT tools significantly contributed to their perceived usefulness of AICC for knowledge acquisition. The study concludes with the recommendation to enable using of ICTs tools to promote the usefulness of AICC for knowledge acquisition.