Training needs of agricultural labourers on modern agricultural practices

Introduction

Unlike industrial labour, agricultural labour is difficult to define. The reason is that unless capitalism develops fully in agriculture, a separate class of workers depending wholly on wages does not come up. According to the National Commission on Labour "an agricultural labourer is one who is basically unskilled and unorganised and has little for its livelihood, other than personal labour." Mishra and Puri have stated that "All those persons who derive a major part of their income as payment for work performed on the farms of others can be designated as agricultural workers. In today's world the agricultural sector employs half of the world's labour force with an estimated 1.3 billion workers active in agricultural production worldwide. In developing countries like India, agriculture and agricultural related activities provide livelihood for the majority of the population in rural areas. In agriculture sector, along with other inputs, manual labour plays a significant role. The agricultural production not only depends on the landholding farmers alone but also on the landless labourers who contribute their physical labour. The traditional agricultural practices were mostly confined to manual labour and the intervention of heavy machinery alone but the in recent times, farms activities involve modern practices which is not so popular among the labours. Appropriate training programmes can play a critical role in providing labours with the new skills and technical knowledge necessary to implement improved methods and to make informed decisions about the best options to suit their conditions. Effective training of any kind requires comprehensive knowledge of the training needs of the target group. It is important to identify training needs before trying to implement any training solutions. In many cases, the training needs of target groups are identified by organizations or individuals, often at the national level, without taking into account the specific needs and preferences of members themselves. This often leads to a mismatch between training programmes and methods and the specific requirements of members in terms of skills, knowledge and interest. Hence it is important to understand the training needs of agricultural labourers.

Objective of the Study

The present study aims to make the profile characteristics, understand training needs of the agricultural labourers, the correlation between them and also the suggestions regarding www.extensionjournal.com the training aspects as perceived by the labourers.

Methodology

The study was conducted during 2023 in college of agriculture, Vellayani, in Trivandrum district of Kerala by adopting Ex-post-facto research design. A sample of 70 agricultural labourers were selected based on random sampling method. The data was collected through well structured interview schedule, which was coded, tabulated. analysed and presented. Various statistical measures such as frequency, percentage and correlation coefficient were used. The findings were suitably interpreted and conclusions and interference were drawn.

Assessment of training needs

Areas on which agricultural labourers needed training were identified for the study purpose. Training needs were accessed in 20 areas. A three point continuum consisting of 'most needed', 'needed' and 'least needed' was used to measure the training needs of agricultural labourers in main areas and a score of three, two, and one was given respectively for quantification. The respondents were asked to indicate anyone of three alternative response against each item of the main areas depending upon the degree of training they are in need. The total training need score of particular item was worked out considering the response expressed by all respondents. For instance for one particular item i.e. plant protection, frequency of response against each point was 83 in most needed 20 in needed and 17 in least needed multiplying the frequency by their respective score value. The total score of this particular item was worked out as 306, the mean score of this particular item was worked out by dividing the total score of the item with total number of respondents. Therefore the mean score of the plant protection item obtaining is 2.55. The mean score values, were obtained separately for all main areas. Items were ranked according to mean score values. Highest mean score will get 1 st rank, next highest mean score will get the next rank, like that all the ranks were worked out.

Results and Discussion

Profile characteristics of agricultural labourers

The data of table 1 revealed that majority of the agricultural labourers belonged to middle age group (48.57%) while 42.86 per cent and 8.57 percent belonged to young age and old age respectively. 61.43 per cent of them had education upto matric, 14.29 per cent had upper primary education, 12.86 per cent had lower primary education. 7.14 per cent had above matric education and 2.86 per cent functionally literate. 1.43 per cent of the respondents each were illiterate and of graduated. Most of the agricultural labourers (88.57%) had less than 10 years of experience as agricultural labourer followed by 10 to 19 years (7.14%) and more than 19 years (5.71%). About 37.14 per cent had less than 6 years of farming experience, while 32.86 per cent had 6 to 10 years, 17.14 percent had 11 to 15 years, 10.00 per cent had 16 to 20 years and only 2.86 percent had 20 years of farming experience. Based on the findings majority of the respondents had agricultural labour work as their occupation where, 35.71 per cent had agricultural labour + other services and 10.00 per cent had agricultural labour + business. It is noticed that more than half of the respondents (57.14%) had less than Rs 225000 of annual income, while 24.29 per cent had annual income between Rs 225000-Rs 275000 and 18.57 per cent had annual income more than Rs 275000. 42.86 per cent of the labourers had medium social participation, followed by low (30.00%) and (high (27.14%) social participation. A great majority (70.00%) of the agricultural labourers had medium mass media exposure, followed by high (20.00%) and low (10.00%).

Knowledge level of agricultural labourers on modern agricultural practices

Correlation between selected variables and their training needs To examine this relationship, correlation coefficient (r) value was computed, the results of which are presented in table 5

The data depicted in table 5 show that among twelve characteristics studied, mass media, scientific orientation, achievement motivation and knowledge were found postively and significantly correlated with training needs at 0.01 level of probability. Whereas, social participation and innovativeness were correlated postively and significantly at 0.05 level of probability. Further it was noticed that age, education, experience as agricultural labourer, experience in farming, occupation and annual income had insignificant relationship with the training needs. The general exposure of the agricultural labourers was improved due to enhanced social participation which will improve their self-confidence and they seek more information and show interest in learning new things. This result was in line with the findings of Janani et al (2014) [1] . Exposure to mass media increases the awareness amongst the individuals about the latest developments in the fields of their working. This will encourage them to get trained on important aspects. This result was in line with the findings of Kullayappa (2006) [3] . Respondents having more scientific orientation will have more training needs as they better understand scientific practices and importance of training. Innovativeness encourages the respondents to adopt new ideas. So whenever the innovativeness is high, the training needs will be high. This was in accordance with Verma et al (2014) [6] . Achievement motivation will increase the risk orientation and gives better confidence to go for new ideas. Hence the training needs seems to be high for the ones who have better achievement motivation. Knowledge creates an essentiality to enquire more on the critical aspects of a particular new idea or technology. And so the knowledge and the training needs are positively correlated.

Suggestions made by

Method of training:

Demonstration and field trip was the method preferred by most of the respondents (61.43%), while 27.14 per cent showed interest in lecture and discussion, 5.71 per cent each for audio visual aids and tour. Majority preferred demonstration and field trip method as it provides them better understanding by seeing the techniques or practices directly.

Conclusion

It is concluded from the investigation that majority of the agricultural labourers expressed high training needs on hitech farming, polyhouse construction, drip irrigation, Precision farming and mechanisation etc. The analysis of selected characteristics like social participation mass media, scientific orientation, innovativeness, achievement motivation and knowledge were found positively and significantly correlated with training needs. Most of the agricultural labourers suggested college farm as venue for training, 10-20 members as size of training group, three days training as duration and demonstration and field trip as the method of training. The training needs identification and providing training according to needs of a labourer sharpens the hidden skills and acts as medium to imbibe any new knowledge or skill in a given profession. The extension personnel and policy makers and scientists shall keep the results of this study in view while taking decisions as regards to what the contents of technological information regarding modern agricultural practices should be taken to the agricultural labourers. Further, they should concentrate on major areas, identified by study for deciding the training programmes for the agricultural labourers.

References

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