TRAINING NEED ASSESSMENT OF HORTICULTURE EXTENSION PERSONNEL IN JAMMU REGION OF JAMMU & KASHMIR
Loading...
Date
2017
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu
Abstract
Horticulture is an industry in Jammu and Kashmir State and offers good scope for cultivation of horticulture crops. Presently an area of 1.21 lakh hectare is under fruit cultivation in Jammu region with an annual production of 1.82 metric tons (2015-16), (D.D, P&S, Horti. Jammu). Horticulture extension personnel (Horticulture Development Officers and Horticulture Technicians) occupy the focal position in transfer of technologies to the orchardists. In order to keep them abreast of the latest technologies, horticulture department conduct many training programme to update and upgrade their knowledge, which not only increase their skills but also makes them competent to perform their job efficiently. Training has been defined in many ways. Lyton and Pareek (1990) stated that training consists largely of well organized opportunities for participants to acquire necessary understanding and skill. According to Tris (1991) training need identification is the first and most important task of the steps and processes that must be performed before the beginning of training work. In view of this a study entitled “Training need assessment of horticulture extension personnel in Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir” was conducted in 2015-16 to find out their knowledge and training needs in selected fruit crops. Four major fresh fruit crops viz. mango, citrus, apple, and pear predominately representing all the three agro-climatic zones of Jammu region were selected for study purpose. Proportionate stratified random sampling technique was employed for selecting a sample of 200 horticulture extension personnel (30 horticulture development officers and 170 horticulture technicians) from the entire ten districts of Jammu region. The findings of the study revealed that majority of the horticulture extension personnel were male with age group (53-59 years). With regards to formal education majority (63%) of horticulture development officers were Post graduate and incase of horticulture technicians formal education in majority (54%) was 10th standard. More than one half (53%) of horticulture technicians and 10 per cent horticulture development officers had no training exposure. Majority (96%) of horticulture technicians and 77 per cent HDOs were having rural background with average service length of 23.18 and 12.17 years, respectively. Majority (69%) percent horticulture technicians and 47 per cent HDOs were having low (2-6 score) and high (10-13 score) of information utilization sources, respectively. Similarly more than half (58%) horticulture technicians and 50 per cent HDOs were having low (2-7 score) and High (11-17 score) of information dissemination sources. The study further revealed that 51 per cent technicians and 40 per cent HDOs possessed medium level of knowledge about selected fruit crop cultivation. Path analysis was applied to find out the direct and total indirect effect of independent variables on knowledge of horticulture extension personnel; it was found that education (0.57497) had highest direct and information utilization sources (0.48847) had highest total indirect effect on the knowledge level of horticulture extension personnel. Insect/pest identification and their control measures were perceived as most important practice for imparting training in technical skill category by both horticulture technicians as well as horticulture development officers. In addition to this identification of varieties, nursery management and training/ pruning were perceived as “most important” training areas by the HDOs and “important” by the technicians. Demonstrations, mass contact, preparation and use of simple aids were highest ranked training areas in communication skills. Similarly motivation techniques and programme planning were perceived as most important areas of training in supervisory skills. Linear regression model was applied to find out effects of independent variable on training need of the horticulture extension personnel; it was found that training attended (t-value = 2.436) and information utilization sources (t-value= -2.274) were significantly effecting the training need of the horticulture extension personnel. Regarding training strategies, majority of the horticulture extension personnel preferred to attend training programme in morning session (9 AM – 1 PM) for a period of 3-5 days at their respective district head offices / KVKs mainly in the month of October to December. They also opined that trainers should be out of their parent organization but within the state. Both result as well as skill demonstrations were perceived more effective teaching methods. Major constraints expressed by HDOs were lack of sufficient staff and lack of physical facilities for performing the official job. Similarly, for technicians the pay anomalies, excess work load and lack of promotional avenues were most important constraints in performing their job.
Description
Keywords
null
Citation
No. of references 88