International Journal of Agriculture Extension and Social Development

author(s)
Gandham Lakshmi Prasanna, Dr. S Chandra Shekhar, Dr. M Sampath Kumar and Dr. T Lavanya

abstract
The adoption of social media in Indian agriculture and its extension services has accelerated in recent years. Platforms like WhatsApp are not only facilitating direct connections between farmers and digital marketplaces but are also fostering critical networks of support, knowledge sharing, and timely information dissemination. Given India’s Agro-ecological diversity, location-specific crop practices are common. However, many farmers still lack timely access to relevant information. The emergence of ICT tools, especially mobile-based platforms like WhatsApp, has significantly transformed the way farmers seek and receive agricultural information. This study, conducted in 2023–24, examined the effectiveness of WhatsApp-based Agro-advisory services and profiled 120 respondent farmers from three different Agro-climatic zones in Telangana. An ex-post-facto research design was employed. The socio-economic and psychological characteristics studied included age, education, landholding size, extension participation, innovativeness, achievement and economic motivation, information-seeking behavior, decision-making ability, and digital literacy. Results revealed that most respondents were middle-aged (53.33%) with small landholdings (41.66%). Educational attainment was highest at the secondary level (30.00%), while 17.50% were illiterate. Extension participation and other behavioral characteristics such as innovativeness (50.00% medium), achievement motivation (57.50% medium), economic motivation (51.70% medium), information-seeking behavior (45.83% medium), decision-making ability (44.10% medium), and digital literacy (48.33% medium) followed similar trends. These findings underline the increasing integration of digital tools into farming practices and highlight the role of WhatsApp as a promising platform for technology dissemination.