Evaluation of the feasibility of use of online extension service for the farmers in Sabaragamuwa Province in Sri Lanka

Abstract

At present, online extension service is one of modern extension methods following in many agricultural countries with significant levels computer literacy rates, for the development of Agriculture sector. However, since the computer literacy rate of Sri Lanka is relatively low it is important to evaluate the feasibility of application of online extension service thoroughly before implementing such a service. Therefore, this research is carried out with the objective of identifying the availability of facilities and ability farmers to use internet, and to find out Preference of farmers regarding online Agriculture extension service. Sabaragamuwa province was selected as the research area. Out of total farmer population, a sample of 140 farmers was randomly selected for the study based on available time and the budget. According to the results, most of the respondents (farmers) are male farmers belongs to the middle age category and having significant level of education. Most (55.7%) of them are fulltime farmer, growing several types of crops and getting average level of monthly income (LKR 10 000 – 20 000). Furthermore, there are no significant association with age, gender, educational level and income of the farmers with availability of internet facilities. However, there are associations between age and educational level of them with the ability to use internet facility. Therefore, even though majority of farmers’ possess internet facilities, only a very small proportion of them have even general knowledge to use internet facility. It is matching with the present statistics related to IT in the country. While all island IT literacy rate in Sri Lanka is 26.8%, it is lower in rural areas (Department of Census and Statistics, 2015). Out of internet using famers, only a tiny portion(4%) use internet for agriculture purposes and rest use it for entertainment and or as social networks.