A test developed to measure the knowledge level of farmers about Market-Led Extension

Introduction

India's agricultural extension system. is at a pivotal point in its development. Agricultural system towards increases in productivity cum profit maximization through the new trend of extension services (Krishna et al., 2019). According to world trade organization, the globalization of market. demands farmers to transform themselves in all levels from production and selling in the domestic market to producer cum seller in the wider market scene to realize the optimum returns over their investments (Kumar et al., 2011). profit-oriented business (Vilas, 2016). FAO estimates major losses is due to lack of post-harvest operation among others The need for market-led is of necessity by the paradigm shift of present agriculture scenarios which calls for a conversion of the sector into. Existence of many middlemen has also resulted into less return on farmer's investment as well as high cost paid by the consumer (Krishna et al., 2019) (Thakur, 2019). However, this loss can be minimized by the Market Led extension approach through adequate supply of information, direct marketing, and by establishing market and agro-processing linkages and post-harvest operation such as proper handling, grading, standardizing, value addition, packaging. capacity building in terms of improved production as well as storage and transport system. Market led extension practices. and make the farmers to realize better prices to their farm produce (Vasanthi, 2020). The market-led extension will assist the farmers in solving the problems from planning the production. till the produce reaches consumer. It is of utmost importance for the farmers to have knowledge about these practices. Keeping this in view, the an attempt and ultimate use of them made to develop test to measure the knowledge level of farmers about Market-Led Extension play a major role in building the capacity of the farmers to meet the emerging challenges in various level of farming.

Objective

To develop the test to measure the knowledge level of farmers about Market-Led Extension

Methodology

The development of scale fallows Likert method of summated rating (Likert's technique, 1923) steps developing the desired scale followed in developing the desired scale. A summated rating scale is a set of knowledge statements, all of which are considered of approximately equal value and to each of which statements were subjects to respond with degrees of agreement or disagreement (Thakur et al., 2019). This method was adopted for the statements, all of which are considered of approximately present study, because the use of single statement to represent a concept whole is avoided in scale development and instead several statements as indicators, all representing different facets of the concept to obtain a more well-rounded perspective can be used and presented below.

Relevancy weightage

All statements were then subjected to scrutiny by an expert panel of judges to determine the relevancy. List of items were sent to 300 judges from relevant field with vast experience for critical evaluation, out of 300 judges, 93 judges sent the responses for items in time further the scoring and analysis of the items was done. The responses were obtained on five-point continuum viz., 'most relevant (MR)', 'relevant (R)', 'somewhat relevant (SWR)', 'least relevant (LR)' and not relevant (NR)' with scores of 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1, respectively for positive statements and scoring was reversed for negative statements.

From the obtained responses Relevancy Percentage (R P ), Relevancy Weightage (R W ) and Mean relevancy score (M RS ) were worked out for all the 122 items statements by using the following formulae.

The statements having relevancy percentage more than 75.00 per cent and relevancy weightage more than 0.75 and mean relevancy score more than 3.00 were considered for final selection of items. By following this process out of 122 items, 86 items were selected and rewritten as per the comments of the experts. Thus, finally 86 items were selected for further process.

Item Analysis

After following criteria, final 86 items were selected then these items were subjected for item analysis (Vinaya et al., 2016), (Khale and Bhange. 2019) [1] and administered to 40 respondents from non-sample area of Honnali taluk of Davengere district were pre tested. For conducting item analysis, 't-test' was used. Where, respondents were asked final items and indicated their knowledge level of based on statement on a Yes or No (two -point continuum) Scale. For each respondent maximum possible score for 86 statement is 86 and minimum score is 0. in an ascending order on the basis of total score earned by them. Further, based on these scores 25 per cent of respondents with highest total score The score of respondents were arranged then arranged and 25 per cent with lowest total score were selected and these two groups formed the criterion groups for item analysis. The critical ratio (t) for each item was calculated by using the following formula. The significance of difference between means of these two groups was found out by 't' test. The 't' value is the measure of extent to which given statement differentiates between high and low groups. The 't' value equal to or greater than 2.10 were selected. The thumb rule of rejecting items with 't' value less than 2.10 was followed as suggested by, Edward (1969). This indicated that the average response of high and low group differed significantly. Finally, the statements having 't' value equal or greater than 2.10 were selected (Table 1). By following this criterion finally, 35 items were selected. Further, these obtained statements were subjected to reliability and validity. Grading and standardization contribute to pricing efficiency 3.92 2.

Bulk transport at a time increases quantity and quality losses 5.56 3.

Value addition helps in extension of shelf life of the produce and fetch more price 4.83 4.

APMCS provides warehouse and credit for pledging the produce 3.67 5.

Pack house helps to maintain quality by reducing field heat 2.53 6.

Cold storage helps to sell produce during high market price 4.64 V Trade practice 1.

Do you know about Different type of collection points for the produce? 5.76 2.

Direct marketing enables a. To know customers preference b. To elimination middlemen c. Efficient marketing of produce d. Fetches more profit 4.11

3.

Organic farming helps in getting specialized produce and fetches higher price 3.67 4.

In Contract farming farmers are assured for buy back with predetermined prices 4.03 5.

Direction of trading helps to know the marketing route of the produce 2.51 6.

Traders and commission agent are licensed dealers 5.19 7.

Traders visit surplus collection points 4.02 8.

Marketing cost increases with middlemen involvement and reduces profit 5.60 VI Consumer preference 1.

Consumer prefer more of value-added products 3.28 2.

Varity with high consumer preference helps in getting better profit 3.03 3.

Quality and appearance of produce attracts consumer towards market 3.62 4.

Consumer demand is more when its available during off season 2.92 5.

Consumer prefer more of value-added products 3.28 4.

Reliability and Validity of scale

. The scale developed was further standardized by establishing its reliability and validity. Reliability is the ability of a test instrument to yield consistent results from one set of measures to another. According to Kerlinger (1964) reliability is the accuracy or precision of a measuring instrument. To know the reliability of the knowledge test Split-Half method was used.

a. Split-Half method

The final 35 items were administered to the respondents of nonsample area by following Split half method. In this method total 35 items were divided into two halves by odd-even method by following criteria of odd numbered and even numbered items. The two halves were administered separately to 20 farmers in a non-sample area. The scores were subjected to product moment correlation test in order to find out the reliability of the half-test.

The reliability coefficient of the test was computed using the Spearman-Brown prophecy formula given by Spearman (1910) and Brown (1910).

Where, ∑X = Sum of the scores of the odd number items ∑Y = Sum of the scores of the even number items ∑X 2 = Sum of the squares of the odd number items ∑Y 2 = Sum of the squares of the even number items n = Number of respondents Finally, whole reliability of the test obtained with correlation coefficient (r) of 0.97, which was significant at five per cent level indicating that test was having high reliability.

b. Content validity

In the present study,. The judge's opinion was sought to know the relevancy of the items. This justified the content validity of the scale the items were identified through the review of relevant literature and discussion with experts in the concerned field.

c. Construct validity

Then construct validity of an instrument means the extent to which a test measures the concept it was designed to evaluate (Henerson, 1978). Finally, the test developed for the study was administered to 40 farmers other than the respondents selected for the study. In other hand, higher the values of correlation coefficient justified construct validity of the scale hence test was having Spearman-Brown prophecy coefficient of 0.97 indicated that test was justified construct validity.

Administration and scoring of attitude scale

The final scale consisted of 25 statements (Table 2). The responses had to be recorded on a five-point continuum representing strongly agree, agree, undecided, disagree and strongly disagree with scores of 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1, respectively for positive statements and vice versa for negative statements. The attitude score on this scale ranges from a minimum of 25 to maximum of 125. The scale developed was found to be reliable and valid and administered. Ravi et al. (2022) [2] also developed scale by using same procedure where a scale used to measure core competency of extension field functionaries in land resource inventory-based watersheds.

Conclusion

The scale made using proper standard measurement devices such as item analysis,reliability and validity are all used to know the test stability and obtained scale is neither too difficult nor easy easy accessible to all. Finally scale to measure the knowledge level of farmers towards Market-Led Extension was developed by following Likert method. Thirty-five items were selected.

Acknowledgement

AcknowledgementThe authors thank and acknowledge Judges and Farmers of Southern Transitional, Northern Transitional and Central Dry Zone of Karnataka for sharing their experiences.

References

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