Indian Agriculture and Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

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Farming is both a way of life and the principal means of livelihood for 65 percent of India’s population of 110 crore. In spite of huge government machinery, Indian farmers still suffer from the absence of right information at the required time. The farmers require timely information on weather conditions, sowing time, availability of inputs including credit, expert advice on maintaining the crop in healthy condition, information on markets and other areas of interest to them and their families. In spite of the best efforts and expenditure, the conventional apparatus has not been able to deliver the goods satisfactorily. Herein lies the role of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) which can efficiently address the concerns of farmers stationed even at remote locations of the country. Low literacy levels, cost of computers, poor communications infrastructure make it impossible for individual farmers, particularly small farmers, to directly adopt ICT. This calls for institutional efforts to provide ICT-based services to farmers. The present volume contains 11 well-researched papers by scholars in the field which provide deep insights into the various dimensions of the application of ICT in agriculture.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR M Hilaria Soundari

Dr. M Hilaria Soundari is Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Research, Gandhigram, Tamil Nadu. She is a social Activist, an academician and a researcher. She bolongs to the Congregation of the Sisters of the Cross of Chavanod. She was awarded UGC-NET JRF/SRF and completed her doctoral degree in the Department of Applied Research, Gandhigram Rural Institute in 2003. Now, as a faculty member in the same department, she teaches courses on research methodology, development research and social work. She is an expert in participatory research techniques and computer applications in research including SPSS and Ethnograph. She is the principal investigator of UGC-Major Research Project, ‘Achieving MDGs: Role of Marginalized Women and Micro-Credit’. She served the marginalized and downtrodden at the grassroot level for 12 years. She organized Self-Help Groups (SHGs) for Dalit women and children under an empowerment promoting agency, DEEPAM. She has published a number of scholarly articles in renowned national and international journals. She has also authored two books. She has participated and presented papers in international conferences held in USA, Netherlands, Switzerland, China and Germany.