Connecting the Digital Bridges Factors Influencing Farmers' Attitude towards e-Governance

The e-governance streamlines the delivery of government services to the farmers, such as agricultural subsidies, credit facilities, insurance schemes, extension services and other citizen charters. The objective of this study was to determine the factors influencing the attitude of farmers towards e-governance. The scale used for attitude measurement was standardized through Judge-rating and pre-testing and forty-one statements were used to assess the attitude of the farmers on a Likert scale. One hundred twenty-five (125) farmers from Phulbari upazila in Dinajpur district of Bangladesh were selected for data collection using a multi-stage random sampling procedure through structured interview method. The findings revealed that a significant proportion (68.0 percent) of the respondents held a moderately to highly favourable attitude towards e-governance. Although seven socio-economic factors had significant relationship with farmers’ attitude towards e-governance; the key influencing factors identification through multiple linear regression and stepwise regression indicated that knowledge of e-governance, educational qualification, age, and organizational participation were the most important. Thus, to enhance farmer engagement and trust in e-governance, policy formulation should be aimed at improving farmers’ knowledge of e-governance involves a multifaceted approach that addresses their specific needs and challenges need to be addressed.