Utilization of information and communication technology tools by the extension personnel of Kerala

This study was conducted to analyse the utilization pattern of information and communication technologies (ICTs) among the agricultural extension personnel of Kerala. Data were collected from 150 Agricultural Officers working in different districts of Kerala. It was observed that 66 per cent of the extension personnel were females, more than two-third of the extension personnel (71.33%) had only medium level of innovation proneness. Almost three-fourth (74.66%) of the extension personnel did not receive trainings related to ICTs. With regard to the attitude towards ICTs, majority (86.66%) of the extension workers were under medium category. The ICT tools with low extent of accessibility were decision support system, video camera, video conferencing and kiosk, with less than 25 per cent. The respondents were evenly distributed among the categories of very less frequent users, less frequent users, frequent users with 26 per cent each and most frequent users with 22 per cent only. More than 70 per cent of the respondents spent 1-5 hrs per week in using various ICT tools.