Information Seeking Behaviour of the Farmers of Haryana for the Adoption of Newly Released Wheat Varieties

Abstract

Agriculture, with its allied sectors, is unquestionably the largest livelihood provider in India.  Wheat is a prominent crop of India from the point of view of food security. It is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain which is a worldwide staple food. Despite recent industrial developments, Haryana is primarily an agricultural state, with approximately seventy per cent of residents engaged in agriculture, and it ranks second in the country in terms of food grain production. The study was conducted in Hisar, Sirsa and Fatehabad districts of Haryana state as maximum FLD’s were disseminated in these areas. A well-structured questionnaire was distributed among the farmers for data collections. Purposive statistical measures such as percentages and frequency distribution were employed for data analysis. A total of 180 respondents were selected from six villages i.e. 30 respondents from each village where maximum seeds of newly released wheat varieties of CCSHAU were selected purposively. Communication profile of the respondents was measured in terms of source of information and credibility of sources was measured. majority of the respondents used localite information sources, which was followed by cosmopolites and also found that cosmopolite sources were more credible to gather information regarding wheat varieties released by CCSHAU. Kisan Call Centre was least used for information but their credibility was very high.