Year: 2026 | Month: June | Volume 13 | Issue 1
Effectiveness of Digital Extension Platforms in Enhancing Farmers’ Knowledge and Decision-Making Ability: A Field-Level Assessment
Pallavi
G. and Shashidhara
N.
DOI:10.30954/2347-9655.01.2026.7
Abstract :
Digital agriculture seems to be a promising solution to enhance access to scientific information, to boost extension services, and to promote sustainable farming. Evidence of the impacts of digital extension platforms to increase farmers’ knowledge and decision-making is still relatively scarce, especially in semi-arid agricultural areas. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of the digital extension platforms in enhancing the knowledge and decision-making ability of farmers in Northern Karnataka, India. An ex-post facto research design was used and data collected from 150 farmers using a structured and pre-tested interview schedule. The effectiveness of digital extension services was evaluated using knowledge improvement, decision making capability, adoption pattern of digital platforms and constraints analysis. The findings show that farmers’ overall agricultural knowledge significantly increased when they were exposed to digital advisor platforms (54.6%). The area with the greatest improvement was in the use of information for weather-based decision making and information related to markets. Digital extension services were also used to improve the capacity of the farmers to make informed decisions on their crop management, irrigation scheduling, pest management and marketing. The results of regression analysis showed that the digital literacy, frequency of using smart phone and exposure to education and extension training were major factors affecting the improvement of knowledge. Lack of access to good internet connectivity, lack of digital literacy and difficulty in understanding technical information were highlighted as significant restraints. The study finds that digital extension platforms can be useful complements of traditional extension systems to enhance access to information and farmer decision-making. Enhancing digital infrastructure in rural areas, increasing digital literacy and creating farmer-friendly extension services are crucial to secure inclusive and sustainable digital agricultural transformation.
Highlights
- Evaluated the role of digital extension platforms in strengthening farmers’ knowledge and decision-making ability in Northern Karnataka.
- Provided insights into digital advisory adoption, influencing factors and constraints for improving sustainable agricultural extension services.
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