Barriers to ICT Usage: An Assessment Among the Sugarcane Farmers in Disadvantaged Districts of Tamil Nadu, India

This study assessed the barriers limiting the ICT (Information and Communication Technology) usage of sugarcane farmers in the disadvantaged districts of Tamil Nadu, India. Altogether, 240 respondents belonging to all the disadvantaged districts of Tamil Nadu, viz. Tiruvannamalai, Cuddalore, Villupuram and Nagapattinam districts formed the sample case of the study. The sugarcane farmers responded to a list of barriers on a 3—point continuum, viz. not important, important and very important. ANOVA and Tukey multiple comparison tests were applied to analyze the data. ‘Lack of time’ and ‘lack of access’ were perceived to be the two most important barriers. Significant differences were found among the districts in terms of the sugarcane farmers’ perception to five barriers to ICT usage, viz. lack of time (perceived as more severe by Nagapattinam district farmers), lack of access (perceived as more severe by Tiruvannamalai district farmers), lack of training (perceived as more severe by Nagapattinam district farmers), no perception of benefits (perceived as more severe by Cuddalore farmers) and expensive input (perceived as more severe by Tiruvannamalai district farmers). Relatively, the sugarcane farmers of Tiruvannamalai and Nagapattinam districts had perceived the barriers to ICT usage as more severe. The differences in the perception of barriers ascertained by this study envisage customized, district-level sugarcane extension strategies to overcome the barriers and effectively meet the information needs of farmers.