Role of ICT's in Agricultural Development: A Case Study from Jazz Ba-Khaber Kissan Service

Abstract

Agricultural sector has been considered as the backbone of Pakistan's economy. More than 69% of Pakistani population depends on agriculture for subsistence. In Pakistan, more than 100 agricultural research stations are working and the department of agricultural extension is responsible to transfer research knowledge towards the farmers but due to lack of resources and geographical spread of farmers, it is very difficult to reach each and every farmer for dissemination information. ICT's has converted the world into the global village and made information access very easy. In 2010 Pakistan Telecommunication Authority reported about 120 million cell phone users in the county. In Pakistan most of the rural population also own cell phones. Keeping in view the main weak point in the agricultural sector, Jazz one of the well-known cellular company in Pakistan launched a project Ba Khaber Kissan using Information Communication Technologies. Ba Khaber kissan Project is responsible to provide the Agricultural Extension services to the farmers through SMS, VMS, Mobile application, Web portal, IVR and farmers complaint call center. This research study was conducted to identify the role of Ba Khaber kissan project in dissemination of improved agricultural technology among the farmers from the farmer's complaint center.