5902

Utilization of Information Disseminated through Mobile Telephones 
by Farmers in Tamil Nadu

P.Anbarasan1 and Neelam Bhardwaj2

ABSTRACT
 Farmers need dynamic information relating to agriculture and rural development. 
Reuters Market Light (RML) offers information services via mobile phone-based Short 
Message Service (SMS) primarily aimed at satisfying the information needs of farmers. 
The study was carried out in the Erode district of Tamil Nadu state. The results revealed 
that three-fourths of the respondents had medium degree of RML information utilization 
behaviour and farm size had a negative and significant relationship with RML information 
utilization behavior.

Keywords : Mobile phone; Reuters Market Light; Short Message Service; Information 
Utilization Behaviour 

Journal of Extension Education
Vol. 29  No. 3,  2017
DOI:https://doi.org/10.26725/JEE.2017.3.29.5902-5909

1. Assistant Professor, Kumaraguru Institute of Agriculture, Sakthi Nagar, Erode-638315 and 2. Director 
(Communication), Directorate of Communication, G.B.Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, 
Uttarakhand-263153

Received : 23-10-2017; Accepted : 25-12-2017

INTRODUCTION

 Reuters Market Light (RML) is 
a unique, “bottom of the pyramid”, 
mobile-based information service for 
farmers in certain states of India from 
Thomson Reuters. Launched in October 
2007, it provides individual farmers with 
“customised, localised and personalised” 
weather forecasts, local crop prices, 
agricultural news and relevant 
information (i.e. crop advisory) – in the 
form of SMS (Short Message Service) 
sent to their mobile phones in their local 
language. 

 This allows subscribing farmers to 
plan irrigation, application of fertilisers, 

and harvest – thus, managing some of 
their risks, as well as to decide when and 
where to sell their produce to maximise 
profit.

 Since its launch in 2007, over 
200,000 farmers in 15,000 villages 
across 13 states in India have subscribed 
to RML. It provides localized and 
personalized information via SMS text 
messages on weather, market prices, 
local and international agriculture and 
commodity news, and crop advisory 
tips enabling farmers to make informed 
decisions, reduce waste and maximize 
their profits.

 RML has, at present, three 
channels for sales: through agri retailers 



5903

to farmers (RML Direct); bulk sales 
to agri input companies/NGOs/large 
groups; bulk sales to mobile operators. 
In the latter two cases, intermediaries – 
those with well-developed distribution 
networks – are used to sell individual 
subscriptions. 

 The current revenue model for 
RML’s service is ‘subscription’ and the 
service is available through major mobile 
networks. Currently, RML carries out 
all activities – from content sourcing 
to customer support and accounting 
– in connection with the service that 
customers receive, other than operating 
a mobile network.

 To mobilize the convergence of ICT 
in agriculture, there is a need to  investigate 
various researchable issues to delineate 
the pre-requisites of a sound strategy of 
ICTs in agriculture. Hence, it becomes 
important to know the information 
utilization behavior of farmers with regard to  
m-extension for overcoming the challenges 
faced by the farmers. The present study 
was conducted with the following 
objectives:

 To study the pattern of information 
utilization by the farmers using Reuters 
Market Light. 

 To analyze the association and 
relationship of identified variables 
towards the information utilization 
behaviour of RML - Short   Message 
Service (SMS) availing farmers.

METHODOLOGY

 The study was carried out in 
the Erode district of Tamil Nadu state. 
Among the 32 districts of Tamil Nadu, 
Erode district was identified as the study 
area of this district as it constituted a 
major group of beneficiaries of Reuters 
Market Light (RML) through mobile 
telephones. In Erode District of Tamil 
Nadu, Reuters Market Light (RML) 
utilizes Pallavan Grama Bank (Rural 
Bank which is sponsored by Indian 
Bank) to distribute the messages. RML 
gets the farmers’ database from the 
Pallavan Grama Bank and sends the 
messages to farmers.  There are fourteen 
Pallavan Grama Banks functioning in 
Erode District. All the fourteen banks 
were selected for the study. From these 
fourteen banks, 180 respondents were 
drawn by using the Stratified Random 
Sampling with Proportional allocation 
method. Then Simple Random Sampling 
without replacement procedure was 
adopted, with the help of random number 
table. Those respondents who availed 
the Reuters Market Light (RML) service 
through the mobile phone Short Message 
Service (SMS) were selected for the study. 
The collected data were analyzed with 
appropriate statistical tools (SPSS) and 
techniques. 

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Information Utilization Behaviour of 
Farmers 

 The RML information utilization 
behavior of the respondents was studied. 

Utilization of Information Disseminated through Mobile Telephones by Farmers in Tamil Nadu



5904

Ten items were identified namely; 
possession of media, use of media, place 
of use, purpose of use, frequency of use 
per day, information preference, decision 
on information, forwarding information 
to others, cross checking and satisfaction 
level of using RML.

 About three-fourths of the 
respondents (70 per cent) had medium 
degree of Reuters Market information 
utilization behaviour followed by low 
(16.7 per cent) and high (13.3 per cent) 

 The RML project is operational in 
the selected study area for the previous 
two years and majority of the respondents 
are utilizing its services only for the last 
two years, which might be the reason for 
the medium level of  RML information 
utilization behavior.

Pattern of RML Utilization Behaviour 
of the Respondents

 The various aspects of Reuters 
Market Light (RML) information 
utilization behaviour of the respondents 
are furnished in Table 1.

 All the respondents (100.00 per 
cent) possessed mobile phones as the 
medium for receiving and forwarding the 
Reuters Market Light (RML) information.

 None of the respondents possessed 
computer with internet, due to its high 
cost and lack of computer and internet 
skills.

Use of Media

 Majority of the respondents 
used the mobile telephones for general 

communication purposes other than 
using it for getting SMS’ from RML. All 
the respondents used the media for 
the purpose of Agricultural activities 
only. Since their major occupation was 
agriculture, the sharing of information 
was predominantly on various aspects 
of agriculture like information sharing 
on inputs, crop management practices, 
communicating with experts in various 
institution, information sharing on 
market prices, information gathering on 
market arrivals and demand etc.,

Possession of Media 

 It is inferred from Table 1 that 
18.88 per cent of the respondents used 
the mobile phone for entertainment 
purposes like hearing music, watching 
video clips and playing games installed 
in the mobile phone. Though many 
of the respondents were aware of the 
entertainment and academic utilities of 
mobile phones, they did not find leisure 
time and interest to use them.

Place of Use 

 Mobile telephones being a handy 
portable device it is obvious that all the 
respondents (100 per cent) used the 
mobile phones at their home, farm and 
market.  This might also be the reason 
for higher level of penetration of mobile 
phones in rural areas.

Frequency of Use per day 

 Data in Table 1 reveal that nearly 
sixty per cent of the respondents used 
to view at the SMS’ sent through RML 

Journal of Extension Education



5905

information twice a day followed by 41.6 
per cent of respondents using it for more 
than twice a day.  This result further 
showed that reinforcement and retention 

of information is possible when it is sent 
through short messaging service (SMS).

Information Preference 

 It is interpreted from the table  that  

Table 1.
Distribution of Respondents based on Various Aspects of  

RML Utilization Behaviour
(n=180)

Sl.No Particulars Number  Percentage
1. Possession of Media

Mobile 180 100

Computer with Internet 0.0 0.0
2. Use of Media

     General 146 81.11

     Entertainment 34 18.88
3. Place of Use

     All (home, farm & market) 180 100
4. Frequency of Use per day

     Twice 105 58.3
     More than twice 75 41.6

5. Information Preference
     Price 62 34.4
     Market 50 27.7
     Traders 68 37.7

6. Decision on Information
     Where to sell 113 62.7
     When to sell 67 37.2

7. Forwarding to others
     Yes 112 62.2
     No 68 37.7

8. Cross checking
     Yes 130 72.2
     No 50 27.7

9 Satisfaction
     Yes 120 66.6
      No 60 33.3

Utilization of Information Disseminated through Mobile Telephones by Farmers in Tamil Nadu



5906

37.7 per cent of respondents preferred 
to get information about Commodity 
Specific Traders from various markets 
followed by 34.4 per cent of respondents 
who preferred market price information 
for more than one crop. About 24 per 
cent of respondents preferred to get 
information about various markets near 
their locality.

 During the study, the respondents 
expressed that the need to know about 
potential traders in the nearby markets 
was very important to them so that they 
might make an attempt to bypass the 
exploitative middlemen in the market. 
Further, they preferred to get market 
price information for more than one 
crop because all the respondents in the 
study area cultivated more than one crop 
at a time and so they innovative in use 
of ICT tools and old farmers were more 
conventional and highly resistant to 
change.

Decision based on Information 

 Around 62 per cent of the 
respondents made decisions on where 
to sell their produce after getting the 
information from RML followed by 37.2 
per cent who decided on when to sell the 
produce.

 The reason attributed to this result 
was; based on the price information given 
by RML about a commodity in various 
markets, the respondents made the 
decision on where (i.e. which market) to 
sell the produce. Obviously their choice 

of selecting the market was based on 
high prices for the produce, distance of 
the market, transport, and infrastructure 
facilities available with the market.

Forwarding to others

 More than three-fifths (62.2 per 
cent) of the respondents used to forward 
the messages received from RML to their 
fellow farmers and friends who were 
not registered with RML or receivers of 
information about some other crop other 
than the information forwarded for a crop 
based on SMS.

 It is followed by 37.7 per cent of 
respondents who did not forward the 
messages to other farmers probably 
because all the other known farmers 
were already registered users of RML. 

Cross-checking 

 Nearly three-fourths (72.2 per 
cent) of the respondents used to cross 
check the information provided by 
RML with other sources like traders in 
various markets, commission agents and 
other farmers.  They expressed that the 
information provided by RML is credible 
and useful.

Satisfaction 

 All the respondents for this study 
expressed a high level of satisfaction 
regarding the overall utility of Reuters 
Market Light (RML) information 
disseminated through mobile telephone.

 It was also observed by the 
researcher that respondents who were 

Journal of Extension Education



5907

using modern electronic gadgets in  
home were more likely to use  
mobile phones  frequently in their  
office.

 The findings are supported  
by the findings of Balasubramaniam 
(2010). Who observed that the  
respondents who were using modern 
electronic gadgets in home were  
more likely to use them frequently in the 
office. 

 Factors Influencing the Reuters 
Market Light (RML) Information 
Utilization Behaviour of the 
Respondents

 In order to determine the factors 
affecting the Reuters Market Light 
information utilization behaviour of the 
respondents, Co-efficient of correlation 
was calculated by finding out the 
relationship of Information utilization 
behavior with select independent  
variables.

 
Table 2. 

Correlation of Characteristics of RML Users through Mobile Phones with their 
Information Utilization Behaviour

(n=180)

Sl. No. Independent variables ‘r’ value

1. Age 0.105*

2. Educational status 0.332**

3. Family status 0.084

4. Annual income 0.106

5. Farm size -0.223*

6. Farming experience 0.181*

7. Source of irrigation  0.179*

8. Cropping pattern 0.166

9. ICT awareness and utilization behaviour 0.182*

10. Market information seeking  behaviour    0.242**

11. Market information processing behaviour    0.435**

12. Attitude towards market    0.306**

13. Preference of market channel 0.081

14. Perception towards mobile phone in farming    0.344**

15.   Gratification towards RML   0.356**

*Significant at 5 per cent level                        **Significant at 1 per cent level 

Utilization of Information Disseminated through Mobile Telephones by Farmers in Tamil Nadu



5908

 It was found that age had a 
positive and significant relationship  
at five per cent level with information 
utilization behavior It might be because 
young farmers are more innovative in 
use of ICT tools and old farmers were 
more conventional and highly resistant 
to change.

 It was found that educational 
status had a positive and significant 
correlation at one per cent level with 
the Information Utilization Behaviour. 
It might be due to the reason that 
respondents with higher education 
always know the significance of any 
valuable information provided to them. 
Particularly in RML, the information 
is sent to the respondents through 
mobile phones and SMS’ sent to the 
farmers both in English and in the local 
language, Tamil, based on their interest. 
Interpretation and application of such 
information could be accomplished 
effectively by the educated farmers 
only.

 Farming experience was also 
found to have a positive and significant 
correlation at five per cent level with 
information Utilization Behaviour. 
It might be because an experienced 
farmer always knows the importance of 
marketing his/her produce and the need 
of relevant market information. It can 
be interpreted that more the number of 
years of farming experience higher will be 
utilization behavior. 

 It was found that Source of 

Irrigation had a positive and significant 
correlation at five per cent level with 
Information Utilization Behaviour. A 
farmer with an assured and adequate 
irrigation source is always expected to 
produce more and try different patterns 
of cropping to derive more income out of 
their occupation. For effective disposal of 
their produce in market the Utilization 
Behaviour of the respondents with good 
irrigation source was also high.

 ICT awareness and utilization 
behaviour was found to have a positive 
and significant correlation at five per 
cent level with Information Utilization 
Behaviour. The frequent exposure of the 
respondents towards various ICT tools 
had resulted in increased the confidence 
of the respondents in utilizing them 
effectively. It was found that Market 
information seeking behaviour had 
a positive and significant correlation 
at one per cent level with Utilization 
Behaviour because, the farmers with 
high level of market information seeking 
behavior were expected to obtain more 
information, which farmers could apply 
in changing market conditions which 
ultimately result in the increased 
Information Utilization Behaviour of 
the respondents.

 Analysis revealed that Market 
information processing behaviour had 
a positive and significant correlation 
at one per cent level with Information 
Utilization Behaviour. It might be because 
the farmers with high level of market 

Journal of Extension Education



5909

information processing behaviour would 
possess superior skills of interpreting 
any information related to market 
and utilized the market information to 
maximum possible extent. Farmers’ 
attitude towards market was also 
positively and significantly correlation 
at one per cent level with Information 
utilization behaviour. The farmers with 
highly favourable attitude towards market 
would collect extensive information about 
various aspects of market and marketing. 
These farmers always preferred to act 
upon the collected information so as to 
accomplish maximum utilization of it. 
Perception towards use of mobile phone 
in farming was found to have positive 
and significantly correlation at one per 
cent level with information utilization 
behaviour. As farmers used mobile 
phone for seeking information from 
RML it might be the reason for this. It 
was found that gratification towards 
RML had a positive and significant 
correlation at one per cent level with 
Reuters Market Light (RML) Information 
utilization behaviour. It is because as 
the majority of the respondents were 
found to be high on gratification. The 
variables such as farming experience, 
source of irrigation and exposure 
towards ICT tools were significant at five 
per cent level and other variables like 
educational status, market information 
seeking behaviour, market information 
processing behaviour, attitude towards 
market, RML gratification and perception 
towards mobile phone in farming were 

significant at one per cent level. The 
result revealed that farm size had a 
negative and significant relationship 
at one per cent level with information 
utilization behavior. Those with less farm 
size usually go for intensive cultivation 
putting in earnest efforts  in getting  
agricultural  information. This might be 
the season behind this finding.

CONCLUSION
 The study has shown that 
information disseminated through 
mobile phones has been effective. The 
satisfactory level of the farmers using 
this facility was also high. The public 
extension system should take the results 
of the study into account & incorporate 
them appropriately in their extension 
programmes. The business concept 
model of RML, through its information 
and advisory services to farmers and 
others, would contribute to the vertical 
integration of the agriculture sector with 
the increasingly organizing retail and 
other industry sectors and also to the 
value additions to the agri-production 
activity. 

REFERENCES
Balasubramaniam, R. (2010). Designing 

and Testing the Effectiveness of 
Computer – Based Expert System on 
Cognitive and Domains of Rubber 
Growers. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, 
TNAU, Coimbatore. 

Jayanthi, M & Asokhan, M. (2016) 
Constaints faced by M-kisan users, 
Journal of Extension Education, 28(1)

Utilization of Information Disseminated through Mobile Telephones by Farmers in Tamil Nadu