Awareness of ICT usage by extension personnel: Knowledge and purpose

Introduction

Information and communication technologies are the combination of hardware, software, and production tools that permit the sharing, processing, and administration of information and knowledge, (Academy for Educational Development and Winrock International in 2003). Increasing the productivity and standard of living for rural farmers and their families is the goal of agricultural extension in developing nations like India. The sharing and exchange of information, knowledge, and skills is a crucial component of extension. Extension is fundamentally communication, a process that links and exchanges information between many parties, which is a prerequisite for sustainable development. ICT in agriculture provides a variety of answers to some agricultural problems. It is regarded as a developing field that focuses on enhancing rural and agricultural development through better information and communication systems. The effective use of ICT greatly increase agricultural production and enhance rural livelihoods in developing nations. Front-line extension workers, who serve as the direct conduit between farmers and other actors in the agricultural knowledge and information system, are in a good position to use ICT to gain access to specialised knowledge or other types of information that may make it easier for them to carry out their regular tasks (Adedoyin, 2005) [1] . ICT can help extension agents do their jobs more quickly and effectively while also facilitating information dissemination and post-extension services. Agriculture extension has been in the forefront of providing farmers with sufficient knowledge to boost output. The extension of research findings and improved agricultural practises to farmers is the focus of agricultural extension service delivery globally (Danso et al. 2018) [2] . The effectiveness with which this knowledge and these practises are disseminated to farmers greatly influences the level of agricultural productivity. Imagine a scenario where cuttingedge technology is used to assist in every phase of producing crops, from the selection of high-quality seeds to crop threshing. All that is required is that we utilise ICT resources and integrate them with agriculture productivity, hence improving the quality and quantity of crops in India. The goal is to create ICT-based solutions that are affordable. Keeping in mind the enormous scope of ICT application in www.extensionjournal.com agriculture the entire study was undertaken with the objective of investigating knowledge of extension personnel regarding ICT and basic purpose behind the utilization of ICT among extension personnel.

Methodology

The study was conducted at all the Krishi Vigyan Kendra's of Haryana state. Nineteen districts where KVK of CCSHAU are located were selected purposively. Total sample constituted 80 extension personnel from all the available discipline of the KVKs.

Socio-demographic profile of the extension personnel working at KVK, Haryana

Table 1 indicated the socio-demographic profile of respondents from all the KVKs of Haryana state. Out of the 80 respondents, majority of the respondents (56.2%) belonged to the age groups of 29-40 years followed by (23.7%) in the age group of 51-60 years and fewest (20.0%) of the respondents were in the age group of 41-50 years, Majority of the respondents from KVKs were males (75.0%) and 25.0% respondents were females, 78.7 per cent of the respondents from KVKs were Subject Matter Specialists followed by 11.2 per cent were Agriculture Assistants and 10.0 percent were Agriculture Extension Officers/ Senior coordinator. Majority of respondents from KVKs had a service experience of 1-5 years (37.5%), followed by 23.7 percent with an experience of 6-10 years, 20.0 percent with more than 15 years of experience and 18.75 percent between 11-15 years of experience. Table 1 indicated that majority of the respondents had monthly income more than Rs 7,00,000 (75.0%) followed by 22.5 percent had monthly income between Rs 4,00,000 -6,00,000/-and only 2.5 percent had monthly income between Rs 1,00,000 -3,00,000/-, 50.0 per cent of the respondents from KVKs had nuclear family and an equal number of respondents had joint family each respectively. Majority of the respondents were PhD with NET (97.5%) and only 2.5 percent respondents were M. Sc. with NET, Majority of the respondents had medium family education status (48.7%) followed by 27.5 percent with low family education status and 23.7 percent had high family education status, Majority of the respondents were in service (71.2%) followed by 18.7 percent had farming as their family occupation and only 10.0 percent had business in their family. Table 1 further revealed that majority of the respondents had power supply for more than 18 hours (68.7%) per day followed by 17.5 percent had power supply for 13-18 hours per day, 7.5% respondents for 5-8 hours per day and 6.25% had power supply for 9-12 hours per day. Majority of the extension personnel of KVKs were from the discipline of agronomy (25.0%) followed by 21.25 percent from extension education, 18.75 percent from home science and 10.0 percent from soil science, 5.0 percent from horticulture, engineering, Plant pathology and economics each respectively and only 1.25 percent were from plant breeding and zoology each respectively. Majority of the respondents (66.2%) had to travel 2-5 km distance from city or town to KVK followed by 12.5 percent had to travel 6-10 km and more than 20 km distance from city or town and only 8.75 percent had to travel 10-20 km distance from city or town to KVK.

Knowledge Index

Knowledge index of extension personnel regarding ICT was found by taking in to account sum total of the questions replied correctly i.e (1506) divided by total number of questions asked (23) and multiplied by total number of respondents (80) which came out to be (1840) and further multiplied by hundred to calculate the knowledge index in per cent which was (81.8%).

Index showed that 81.8% of the extension personnel had knowledge regarding information communication technology.

Conclusion

The general conclusion from this study was that the knowledge of extension personnel for Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) tools was higher. Cent per cent of extension personnel had availability of ICT with

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