Purpose

Despite a lot of agricultural initiatives by the government in a regionally diversified country like India, agriculture is poor, and farmer suicide cases are rampant. This study aims to socially transform and bring behavioural change among the farmers of southern India through the usage of new media. The research has gauged the factors that affect new media accessibility and usability, hindrances in the process and change of farmer’s behaviour through online social marketing bringing social transformation.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is action participatory in nature, and the data is triangulated by conducting a survey at the first level using the Delphi technique among 184 rural south Indian farmers who are smartphone users use new media, and at the next level, the farmers were requested to use WhatsApp for agricultural new sharing, and in the last stage, personal interview with entrepreneurs and farmers has been conducted to understand their new media adoption, e-learning and online social marketing.

Findings

New media is the best way to transform agricultural practices socially. It is a forum where all the farmers of the country can get together and address the issue of the agrarian crisis. Online social marketing (OSM) through WhatsApp is one of the best methods of behavioural change because different farmers can share their experiences and emotion for the crisis and give an appropriate solution to a problem. And, one of the most important features of OSM is it removes third parties from miscellaneous issues be it selling, buying or seeking and sharing information.

Research limitations/implications

Despite trying to cover different hindrances in the way of social marketing of agriculture, the study is not free without its limitations. Language was a barrier, and this study require a lot of time to perceive the changes and adoption. Also, due to time constraint, the authors have categorically clubbed innovators, early adopters and early majority in the same layer opinion leaders and adopters of innovation. These could be analyzed separately in five layers, as suggested by Rogers (1995).

Practical implications

From the managerial perspective, the government should extend services that teach the agriculturists, farmers the use of new media. The marketers and makers of apps and software can tap into this business for launching products for farmers. We need apps designed only for farmers, where agricultural and farming practitioners all over the country and globe can interact about their products, conditions of agriculture and give solution to issues arising in agriculture and farming.

Originality/value

The researchers posit that there are hardly any studies that provide strategies to the agricultural and farming sectors in a regionally diversified country like India. The study is one of its first kind to propose new media strategies to reach out to the farmers of different regions and segmentation for a behavioural change and adoption of new media for better and sustainable agriculture. It has gauged into the factors that affect new media accessibility and usability among farmers and simultaneously gave strategy for behavioural change.

中文翻译：

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新媒体在农业学习和发展中的可用性和有效性：以印度南部各州为例

目的

尽管政府在印度这样一个地区多元化的国家采取了许多农业举措，但农业状况不佳，农民自杀案件猖獗。本研究旨在通过使用新媒体来改变印度南部农民的社会和行为。该研究通过在线社交营销带来社会变革，衡量了影响新媒体可访问性和可用性的因素、过程中的障碍和农民行为的变化。

设计/方法/方法

该研究本质上是行动参与性的，数据是通过在第一级使用德尔菲技术对使用新媒体的 184 名使用新媒体的印度南部农村农民进行调查来进行三角测量的，在下一级，农民被要求使用WhatsApp进行农业新分享，并在最后阶段对企业家和农民进行了个人访谈，以了解他们的新媒体采用、电子学习和在线社交营销。

发现

新媒体是从社会角度改变农业实践的最佳方式。这是一个全国所有农民可以聚在一起解决土地危机问题的论坛。通过 WhatsApp 进行在线社交营销 (OSM) 是改变行为的最佳方法之一，因为不同的农民可以分享他们对危机的经历和情感，并为问题提供适当的解决方案。而且，OSM 最重要的功能之一是它将第三方从销售、购买或寻求和共享信息的杂项问题中删除。

研究限制/影响

尽管试图涵盖农业社会营销方式中的不同障碍，但该研究并非没有局限性。语言是一个障碍，这项研究需要大量时间来感知变化和采用。此外，由于时间限制，作者将创新者、早期采用者和早期多数派归为同一层意见领袖和创新采用者。正如 Rogers (1995) 所建议的那样，这些可以分为五层进行单独分析。

实际影响

从管理的角度来看，政府应该扩大服务，教会农民、农民使用新媒体。应用程序和软件的营销人员和制造商可以利用这项业务为农民推出产品。我们需要专为农民设计的应用程序，让全国乃至全球的农业和农业从业者可以就他们的产品、农业条件进行互动，并为农业和农业中出现的问题提供解决方案。

原创性/价值

研究人员认为，几乎没有任何研究为印度这样一个区域多元化的国家的农业和农业部门提供战略。该研究是首次提出新媒体策略以接触不同地区的农民并进行细分，以改变行为并采用新媒体以实现更好和可持续的农业。它已经衡量了影响新媒体在农民中的可及性和可用性的因素，同时给出了行为改变的策略。