The Impact of ICT on Rural Livelihood of Farmers in West Bengal, India

Abstract

Agriculture is a major contributor to West Bengal's economy, as the state's manufacturing sector is constrained by topographical constraints. As a result of the foregoing background, this study aims to investigate the effect of ICT on farmers' livelihoods in West Bengal.Primary data collection is done from the rural farmers in West Bengal, based on a pre-defined questionnaire.Data analysis is done via Cronbach’s Alpha, factor analysis linear regression. Taking into consideration of 95% confidence level and 5% confidence interval, total sample size of 381 have been determined. All the five dimensions of livelihood -Financial Capital (FC), Human Capital (HC), Physical Capital (PC), Social Capital (SC) and Natural Capital (NC), have been considered in the present study.Based on the analysis it is found that ICT has a positive impact on all the five tenets of livelihood in the district of PurbaMedinipur, West Bengal.