Effectiveness of Extension and Advisory Services Provided by Input Dealers during COVID-19 Pandemic

Aim: The main aim of this research is to study the input dealers’ perception towards the extension ad advisory services provided during COVID-19 pandemic.

Study Design: Cross section research design.

Place and Duration of Study: Coimbatore and Tiruvallur districts of Tamil Nadu, India. Two years (2021-2022).

Methodology: From the selected two districts 70 extension officials were randomly selected for conducting the study. Data were collected from the input dealers who delivered extension and advisory services to farmers during COVID-19 pandemic. Paper-Pencil survey method was used to collect data from the farmers. The survey approach is useful for evaluating opinions and trends by gathering quantitative data. A separate scale was developed for assessing the input dealer’s perception towards the effectiveness of extension and advisory services. CIPP model of evaluation was used for developing scale to measure the input dealer’s perception towards the EAS. The developed scale were validated by the experts. A scale was measured using 5-point Likert scale with 1 denoting "strongly disagree and 5 denoting “strongly agree” were employed in this study.

Results: Majority of the input dealers (70.00%) had medium to very high level of perception towards the effectiveness of extension and advisory services. Input dealer’s perceived that they possessed necessary skills and experience for delivering extension and advisory services. They also perceived that services were made available to farmers on time, door delivery of services were provided, increased agricultural production and productivity of farmers which lead to increased income of the farmers.

Conclusion: Effectiveness of extension and advisory services provided by input dealers during COVID-19 pandemic was effective in input dealer’s perception. Therefore policy makers must propose a policy in a way that government service provider will work along with the input dealers for delivering extension and advisory services to the farming community. Pluralistic extension approach will be the best option for extension service provider.