Purpose: The paper analyzes factors that affect the likelihood of adoption of different agriculture-related information sources by farmers. Design/Methodology/Approach: The paper links the theoretical understanding of the existing multiple sources of information that farmer use, with the empirical model to analyze the factors that affect the farmer's adoption of different agriculture-related information sources. The analysis is done using a multivariate probit model and primary survey data of 1,200 farmer households of five Indo-Gangetic states of India, covering 120 villages. Findings: The results of the study highlight that farmer's age, education level and farm size influence farmer's behaviour in selecting different sources of information. The results show that farmers use multiple information sources, that may be complementary or substitutes to each other and this also implies that any single source does not satisfy all information needs of the farmer. Practical implication: If we understand the likelihood of farmer's choice of source of information then direction can be provided and policies can be developed to provide information through those sources in targeted regions with the most effective impact. Originality/Value: Information plays a key role in a farmer's life by enhancing their knowledge and strengthening their decision-making ability. Farmers use multiple sources of information as no one source is sufficient in itself.

The mobile phone-enabled information delivery mechanism has the potential to reduce the knowledge gap between large and small farmers, and also across gender by creating awareness about new technologies and best practices. This article focuses on how access to information through the mobile phone makes women feel empowered if they are receptive to the information they receive. It also seeks to find out the type of information most valuable to women. This was done by analyzing the listening behavior of farmers, both men and women, to information provided by mobile phones. This study was undertaken in the selected villages in two states of India—Haryana and Bihar. The findings of the study show that information delivered through mobile phones under this pilot project contributed towards reducing information asymmetry among farmers, in general, and between women and men farmers. The listening rate of women farmers was equivalent to that of men farmers. Participating farmers reported that precise and timely weather-based agro-advisory messages helped them in taking informed decisions about input use, thus leading to savings on irrigation and reducing the cost of other inputs such as pesticides and fertilizers. Women farmers also said that agro-advisory messaging helped them make more efficient use of inputs by increasing their knowledge about climate-smart technologies.

Evidence from climate-smart village (CSV) approach to mainstream climate-smart agriculture (CSA) demonstrates improved productivity, income, and reduced climatic risks. However, its contribution to gender empowerment in diverse farming households is not documented. This study creates a Gender Empowerment Index for climate-smart villages (GEI-CSV) based on four major measurable indicators—political, economic, agricultural, and social. The gender gap was derived by mapping difference in empowerment levels across selected CSVs and non-CSVs. These indicators can be used as a vital tool to understand the process of gender empowerment that can trigger the entry points to achieve gender equality, which is also an important aspect in the adoption of climate-smart agriculture practices (CSAPs). The study measures empowerment at the inter-household and intra-household level across CSVs and non-CSVs from the individual household survey with both female and male members of the same household. This paper provides evidence demonstrating how gender empowerment differs in CSVs and non-CSVs from selected climate-smart villages (community-based approach) in two contrasting ecologies and socio-economic settings of India. The study documents the existing gender gap in CSVs and non-CSVs across India’s western (Haryana) and eastern (Bihar) Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP). Irrespective of CSVs and non-CSVs, considerable differences in outlook and gender gap were observed between Bihar and Haryana. Both women and men in Bihar are less empowered than they are in Haryana. High empowerment level in CSVs than non-CSVs shows that the concept of CSVs has brought a change towards knowledge and capacity enhancement of both women and men farmers promoting gender equality in farming households with a varying scope of interventions made and required for scaling CSAPs across the diversity of farming households.