Access to information has become a key to decision making in modern agricultural sector. In addition to traditional sources of information farmers are also tapping recent advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). In order to take care of these needs of farmers Government of India has set up twenty five Kisan Call Centres (KCC) in different states of India to answer the queries of farmers free of cost, instantly and on a continuous basis. The present study was designed to analyze the Chandigarh based KCC catering to Punjab state. Apart from the whole staff serving at the centre, sample of 100 KCC user farmers and 20 non-user farmers were also studied to have in-depth knowledge about working, organization, response and impact of KCC in the state. The overall assessment of centre staff including twenty six Farmers Tele Advisers (FTAs) responding to farmers queries, about KCC was found to be good and majority agreed that the scheme was useful to farmers. They were found to be satisfied with the call efficiency system. Results of farmers Sample Survey showed that majority KCC users were in the age group of 40-50 years. Average number of calls to KCC per farmer was 6-7 in a year. Main interest area of these was pertaining to technical aspects with 79 per cent related to it followed by queries about weather related aspects with 19 per cent of total questions. The traditional sources like fellow farmers, kisan melas, farmers meet were also of high importance to these KCC users. Among modern devices, mobile phones were most frequently used by sampled farmers to get information. However, awareness about agriculture related websites/portals was almost lacking among sampled farmers. Seventy five per cent of the sampled farmers agreed that overall call handling and efficiency was good at KCC and information provided was useful. Some aspects of decision making have shown positive impact of KCC like insect-pest control, disease control, variety selection, fertilizer application and weather related queries. However, during survey, it came to fore that awareness about existence of KCC service was less in the state. Some farmers also complained about providing outdated information by KCC. So, the need was felt about popularizing this useful service by creating awareness about it and also by starting regular SMS service about different aspects of agriculture to prepare the farmers in advance.
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