Published Paper


Organic Farmers, Consumers and Media: A Participatory Action Research

Ms.Brindha D Dr.Jayaprakash C.R.,
Department of Communication, PSG College of Arts & Science, Coimbatore-641014
Page: 34-43
Published on: 2023 December

Abstract

The market for organic products is currently exhibiting strong growth in India. More than 2% of India's net agricultural land was used for organic farming in the fiscal year 2022, the area used `for organic farming has been growing steadily, indicating an increase in demand for organic products (Statista, 2022). Besides, the Govt. of India promoting organic farming practices, many universities and colleges are offering organic farming courses online and offline. A quantitative approach to Participatory Action Research(PAR) was adopted as a broader tradition of collective self-experimentation that is backed up by evidential fact-finding, reasoning, and learning. The researchers organized a field visit to their own organic farm, ‘Redwoods’ at Chinna Thadagam, Coimbatore, where integrated farming is practiced with chemical-free inputs. The farm is a blend of greens, fodder crops, herbs, flowers, fruits, and timber trees of local and exotic varieties with poultry, native dogs, and cows and data was collected from the participants pre- and post-visit through questionnaires. Growers lack a marketing network in small farms because of low-volume products and difficulties in reaching consumers. Researchers have attempted to find the role of different information and communication technology (ICT)to bridge this gap from the participants’ perspectives both as producers and consumers. This study attempts to provide an overview of the role of media in bridging the gap from the participants’ perspectives both as producers and consumers to provide an overview of the sources, choices, and preferences of the participants for information on organic farming practices and organic products. The participants’ awareness of organic farming and organic products and trust in them improved after the field visit. As an important step toward a solution to many of the threats that conventional agriculture has on health and biodiversity, it depends upon a societal commitment to supporting organic farming. While field visits, workshops, and conferences can help with experientially learning organic farming, media, especially social media can help disseminate information about organic farming practices including techniques, workshops, field visits, marketing, buying, and selling organic products. In conclusion, media can be effectively used as channels to connect communities for sharing and marketing organic farming practices, organic products, post-harvest processing, value addition, and transportation among farmers and consumers.

 

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