Unit 3: Information Communication Technologies
ICT in agricultural extension: the platforms, the government initiatives, and what the digital divide actually means for a smallholder.
What this unit covers
Unit 3 is the fastest-moving unit in the syllabus, and older notes serve it badly. Kisan Call Centres and e-NAM have been examinable for years, but drones, generative AI and blockchain in advisory work have entered more recently. Two things earn marks consistently: naming the actual Indian initiative rather than describing technology in the abstract, and being honest about the digital divide instead of writing an uncritical account of how ICT solves everything.
The unit is broken into 10 syllabus areas, listed below. ASRB has set 14 descriptive questions from it that are on record, and there are 85 practice questions for it on this site.
Syllabus areas in this unit
- Concept and scope of ICT in agricultural extension
- Kisan Call Centres, Kisan Suvidha, mKisan and the agri-advisory portals
- e-NAM and digital agricultural marketing
- Expert systems, decision support systems and farmer databases
- Mobile telephony, SMS and IVR advisories
- Social media, WhatsApp groups and community-driven advisory
- Precision agriculture, remote sensing, GIS and drones in extension
- Artificial intelligence and generative AI in agricultural advisory
- The digital divide, digital literacy and access constraints
- Cyber extension and e-governance in agriculture
Key concepts
Cyber extension. Extension delivered over networked information and communication technology, where the advisory reaches the farmer without a physical visit.
e-NAM. The National Agriculture Market, an electronic trading portal networking existing APMC mandis into a unified national market.
Digital divide. The gap between those who can access and use ICT and those who cannot. In extension it usually falls along lines of landholding, gender, literacy and age.
Previous year questions from Unit 3
Descriptive questions ASRB has actually set from this unit, with the year in brackets.
- Constraints faced by ICT initiatives (2014)
- Short notes on Audio conference, Video conference, Web conference (2014)
- Cyber extension short notes (2014)
- Write the advantages of cyber extension (2021)
- Write the advantages of ICT (2016)
- Latest advancements in mobile agro-advisory services (2014)
- Short notes on call centres (2014)
- ICT play key role in various dimensions of agriculture development. Substantiate statement (2021)
14 previous year questions from this unit in total. The full list is on the PYQ page.
Practice for this unit
- 85 descriptive practice questions across 5, 10 and 15 marks, in the Mains section.
- Objective practice for this unit in the MCQ section, with ASRB marking and full analysis.
- Full-length tests that draw on this unit alongside the other nine, in the mock tests.
The other units
- Unit 1: Fundamentals of Extension Education & Communication
- Unit 2: Extension Methods & Agricultural Journalism
- Unit 3: Information Communication Technologies (this page)
- Unit 4: Training & Human Resource Development
- Unit 5: Research Methodology in Extension Education
- Unit 6: Programme Planning, Evaluation & Impact Assessment
- Unit 7: Extension Management & Organizational Behaviour
- Unit 8: Entrepreneurial Development
- Unit 9: Agricultural Innovation System & Extension Approaches
- Unit 10: Gender Sensitization & Empowerment