Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

CONSTRAINTS EXPERIENCED BY EXTENSION PROFESSIONALS IN USING TECHNOLOGY DISSEMINATION SYSTEM OF STATE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE IN ANDHRA PRADESH

M. Ravikishore, K. Raghavendra Chowdary, N. Sri Vidya Rani, B. Krathi Kumari, Ujwala Rani Seedari, P. Sumathi, P. Supriya and B. Seema

Abstract

Extension Professionals were the grass root level workers who worked directly with the farmers implementing the development activities. Competency and satisfaction of extension Professionals on their job makes all the difference in smooth functioning of the development initiatives. However, there are constraints experienced by extension professionals in using technology dissemination systems of State Department of Agriculture (SDA) which needs to be studied for effective implementation of the programmes and schemes of State Department of Agriculture. Hence, A survey was conducted among Andhra Pradesh extension professionals, with the sample size of 100 respondents who were actively involved in the fields of State Department of Agriculture through simple random sampling. The constraints were ranked based on the mean scores and also categorized the constraints based on their relative importance. Results showed that the major constraint faced by Andhra Pradesh extension professionals was technical and infrastructure problems associated with the SDA was the most important and first ranked constraint among fourteen constraints. Lack of training to employees on technology dissemination methods, accessibility to the ICT tools, uncontrollable changes in technology delivery methods, availability of required inputs to conduct demonstrations and lack of awareness on new approaches of technology dissemination were other most important constraints. In order to overcome these constraints so as to enhance the capability of extension professionals in utilizing technology dissemination systems of SDA, extension professionals expressed that, the vacant posts in the Department should be filled regularly to reduce the overburden on existing extension professionals as a most important suggestion with regular and relevant training programmes on latest technology dissemination methods for successful implementation of the extension delivery system.