ROLE OF MASS MEDIA IN CHANGING AWARENESS LEVEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE AMONG SMALL AND MARGINAL PADDY FARMERS OF TAMIL NADU

The study aims to assess the role of mass media in changing awareness level on the impact of climate change among small and marginal paddy farmers. A sample size of 200 respondents was selected from the districts of Erode and Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu. Findings revealed that majority of the farmers (41.5 per cent) have medium level of awareness about climate change. Variations in awareness levels of farmers are noticed among farmers from two different location (sub basins) selected for the study. Majority (43%) of the respondents in Kalingarayan basin had medium level mass media exposure, whereas in Ponnaniyar basin 40.00 per cent of the respondents were under high level of mass media exposure followed by medium and low. Different media would have been sought by the respondents for getting information on agricultural aspects. Even though most of the respondents were literates, limited availability of magazines, journals and periodicals related to agriculture and the problems on their subscription were acting as the limiting factors for accessing agricultural information. Leveraging traditional mass media and modern ICT technologies will help in the long run to increase the awareness levels among farming communities and help in devising and disseminating suitable coping mechanisms.