KVK JAIÑTIA HILLS
Department of Agriculture

TRAINING NEEDS

        Training Needs Assessment of the farmers and rural youths in Jaintia Hills District of Meghalaya was conducted by the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Jaintia Hills in collaboration with the State Department of Agriculture, Meghalaya.

        Four villages representing the different Agro –Ecological Situations under the five Blocks in the district were identified and based on production potential of the different farming systems were drawn up for inclusion in the present study. On consultation with the extension functionaries of the state agricultural departments, local leaders etc. a list of farmers representing different categories were prepared for each village. From the individual list of farmers from selected village, five farmer respondents were randomly selected which made twenty farmers for the district.

        Data collection from randomly selected respondents was made using retested ‘Structured Schedule’ through personal interview method. For this purpose, an interview schedule was constructed for data collection from respondents in the light of the objectives of the study. The selected respondents were personally interviewed and their responses were recorded in the schedule. Utmost care was taken to make the respondents understand about the objectives of the study and clarified their doubts.

        A list of 11 major components/thematic areas was prepared Viz., Crop production, Plant protection, Soil Health and fertility management, Afro-forestry, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, On farm production of Inputs, Home Science/Women empowerment, Agri engineering, Capacity Building and Group Dynamics and Vocational Training for Rural Youth. Under each major component, specific and relevant training needs items were collected through review of literature, discussion with state extension functionaries, progressing farmers etc and incorporated in the interview schedule based on. The schedules were administered to the indented respondents for data collection. In this regard, the farmers were requested to give a tick (√) in one of the three response categories (Viz. Very important, Important and Not Important) provided against the identified specific items under each major component based on their perceived needs for providing training to them for further improvement in their farming system.

        The farmer’s responses were collected in 3- point continuum scale such as Very Important (VI), Important (I) and Not Important (NI) by assigning scores 3,2 and 1 respectively. The results were calculated as weighted score for each of the thrust area identified for the training:-

Weighted Score (WS) = (No. of VI x 3) + ( No. of I x 2) + (No. of Ni x 1)
Total No. of VI + I + NI

        Weighted Scores in the range of 2-3 were ranked within each discipline and the first five rankings were identified as the training needs of the farmers of the district.

Table 1: Weighted Score (1-3 Scale) and Rank of the training needs of the farmers of Jaintia Hills District of Meghalaya in the discipline of Crop Production

Table: 2 Weighted Score (1-3 Scale) and Rank of the training needs of the farmers of Jaintia Hills District of Meghalaya in the discipline of Plant Protection

Table: 3 Weighted Score (1-3 Scale) and Rank of the training needs of the farmers of Jaintia Hills District of Meghalaya in the discipline of Soil Health and Fertility Management

Table: 4 Weighted Score (1-3 Scale) and Rank of the training needs of the farmers of Jaintia Hills District of Meghalaya in the discipline of Horticulture

Table: 5 Weighted Score (1-3 Scale) and Rank of the training needs of the farmers of Jaintia Hills District of Meghalaya in the discipline of Livestock Production and Management

Table: 6 Weighted Score (1-3 Scale) and Rank of the training needs of the farmers of Jaintia Hills District of Meghalaya in the discipline of Home Science/Women Empowerment

Table: 7 Weighted Score (1-3 Scale) and Rank of the training needs of the farmers of Jaintia Hills District of Meghalaya in the discipline of Agril. Engineering

Table: 8 Weighted Score (1-3 Scale) and Rank of the training needs of the farmers of Jaintia Hills District of Meghalaya in the discipline of Fisheries.

Table: 9 Weighted Score (1-3 Scale) and Rank of the training needs of the farmers of Jaintia Hills District of Meghalaya in the discipline of Production of inputs at site

Table: 10 Weighted Score (1-3 Scale) and Rank of the training needs of the farmers of Jaintia Hills District of Meghalaya in the discipline of Agro-forestry

Table: 11 Weighted Score (1-3 Scale) and Rank of the training needs of the farmers of Jaintia Hills District of Meghalaya in the discipline of Capacity building and group dynamics

Table: 12 Weighted Score (1-3 Scale) and Rank of the training needs of the farmers of Jaintia Hills District of Meghalaya for Rural Youth