Abstract
In the present century, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has found multiple applications in the field of agriculture. In fact, the use of ICT in agriculture has established itself as an important pillar for the effective delivery of extension services owing to its cost-effective, time-effective, and speedy dissemination of information to farmers. This is especially true for the complex Indian agricultural scenario which is still riddled by problems such as small land holdings, absence of sound marketing facilities, scarcity of capital, poor connectivity, erratic and delayed information to the farmers, non-adoption or a lesser amount of adoption of improved technology, among others. It is seen that ICT has tremendous potential for application in agricultural extension. E-Agriculture initiatives like Agrisnet, Digital Green, eSagu, Agmarknet, iKisan, Digital Mandi, e-Arik, aqua, Fisher Friend Programme (FFP), are but a few examples of ICT services that have taken the agricultural scenario by storm. Recent developments of ICT have facilitated flow of information to various stakeholders in agriculture, especially farmers; however, factors such as lack of awareness, not enough ICT infrastructure, non-strategic location of information centers, and lackluster attitude towards ICT use continue to inhibit the potential of ICT for agricultural development. Moreover, there is a burning concern that most of the e-Agriculture projects in India are seen to have been implemented in the socio-economically developed states of northern and southern India while the disadvantaged states continue to be technology deprived. This is especially true of the north-eastern states of India, namely, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, where agricultural development is still in its most primitive stages. Here, the use of ICT is still limited to medium such as Television, Radio, and mobile phones. Thus, there is a need to look closely at the factors that govern the use of ICT in this region of the country. This paper makes an attempt to study the same