Impact of Mass Media Exposure on coping Mechanisms Adopted by the Women Farmers during Covid-19 Pandemic in Telangana State

Author: K. Sonali, M. Preethi, R. Geetha Reddy and Aparna Kuna

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Abstract

Agriculture is the backbone of Indian economy which was under stress during Covid-19 pandemic. The lockdown imposed by the government during March 2020 had created many problems like shortage of labour, harvesting equipment, fertilizers and pesticides. Women farmers also faced difficulty in selling their crop produce, difficulty due to closed markets, difficulty in finding farm wage employment, lack of transportation and market facilities etc. The present study was conducted to study the impact of mass media exposure on coping mechanisms adopted by the women farmers of Telangana state. Ex-post facto research design was adopted for the study and purposive sampling was adopted for the selection of districts and mandals, whereas villages and respondents were selected randomly. A total of 120 sample were taken for the study from three districts i.e. Rangareddy, Medchal-Malkajgiri and Karimnagar. The findings showed that majority of the respondents (50.83%) belonged to middle age group, 65.00 percent of the respondents were illiterates, 55.00 percent of the respondents belonged to medium family income group and 67.50 percent of the respondents had low mass media exposure. Cent percent (100%) of the respondents had adopted medium coping mechanisms and none of them fell in low and high categories. There was a significant relation between the mass media exposure and coping mechanisms adopted by the women farmers during Covid-19 pandemic (r = 0.304**). During Covid-19 pandemic mass media played an important role in disseminating the current news updates to the public. It also informed the public about Covid-19 protocols which were given by the government. In order to strengthen their coping mechanisms, women farmers can be capacitated to overcome present problems and to able to mitigate such situations in future.

Keywords

Women farmers, mass media exposure, coping mechanisms, Covid-19 pandemic

Conclusion

Results indicated that the majority (67.50%) of the respondents had low mass media exposure and remaining (32.50%) had medium mass media exposure. All the respondents (cent percent) adopted medium coping mechanisms. The correlation between the mass media exposure and coping mechanisms adopted by the women farmers during Covid-19 pandemic was positive and significant. Covid-19 pandemic is ongoing global crisis that had spread throughout the world. Due to this pandemic many farming families were affected. Most of the women farmers belonged to middle age group, illiterates and were neither trained formally nor informally in order to face such sudden situation. Hence, mass media worked as information platform to many women farmers and promoted positive environment during Covid-19 pandemic. Media had simultaneously kept the viewers informed about current events and not to forward any misleading information related to pandemic. Media also motivated the public to follow the safety measures in order to cope up with the Covid-19 pandemic.

References

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How to cite this article

K. Sonali, M. Preethi, R. Geetha Reddy and Aparna Kuna (2022). Impact of Mass Media Exposure on coping Mechanisms Adopted by the Women Farmers during Covid-19 Pandemic in Telangana State. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 14(4): 898-901.