Utilisation of Social Media in Agriculture: A Case of Fatehgarh Sahib district of Indian Punjab

AbstractThe purpose of the study is to examine how social media platforms are used for obtaining agriculture related information in Fatehgarh Sahib district of Indian Punjab. When taking into account the fact that over 70 per cent of Punjabis as a whole and 42.5 per cent in rural areas have mobile phone internet access, this study becomes more relevant. Nearly half of the Punjab’s population has joined social media as a result of higher penetration of internet. It is interesting to determine how it is utilised in obtaining information about agriculture in the current scenario. The present study is based on primary data collected from 120 farmers from two blocks of Fatehgarh Sahib district. Based on the data, it can be inferred that the respondents were familiar with social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook and You Tube. WhatsApp has emerged as the most popular platform for seeking information on agriculture among various social media platforms, with farmers regularly using it, with You Tube following closely behind. The main reason why most respondents used social media was to receive regular updates on upcoming training programmes, weather updates and getting connected with farmers from other states. Although social media platforms are popular among the respondents and can be used to gather agricultural information, farmers encounter different limitations when using them. Farmers are frequently discouraged from using social media platforms due to the risk of being exposed to deceptive information, lack of reliable information and one-way communication. Agriculture related applications have the potential to provide technical knowledge, but they are not widely used by the farmers.