Differential Effect of Digitization level on Knowledge Empowerment of Farmers: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract

The information is playing the key role in today’s knowledge economy. The Information Communication Technologies are well known for providing timely and relevant information. So, one kind of access and skill i.e. knowledge of ICTs will affect another kind of access and skill, the knowledge of respective subject matter and skill. So, in the present study, an attempt was made to delineate the relationship between digital divide and knowledge empowerment where digital divide was operationalized as the gap between two sets of people due to differential access, skill and uses of ICTs. Knowledge empowerment was defined as the gaining of confidence due to real time access to information or knowledge of subject matter, the better sharing of information through digital network and hence, leading to easier decision making. The state of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh were selected purposively with due literature exploration. Three villages from each district were selected randomly with a sample size of twenty from each village making sixty farmers per district and one hundred twenty farmers as total sample size. The interview schedule was developed for the study. Personal and focus group discussion methods were used as tools for data collection. Upon analysis it was found that the digitization index for farmers of Nashik (Mean=0.61) were significantly higher than farmers of Varanasi (Mean=0.33) thus, the two population were digital divided. The digitization and knowledge empowerment were found to be strongly correlated with a Pearson Correlation Coefficient score of 0.79 which was statistically significant at 1 per cent level of significance, implying that where there was less digitization there was less knowledge empowerment also.