EFFECTIVENESS OF ICT ENABLERS AS PERCEIVED BY THE SUB – ASSISTANT AGRICULTURE OFFICERS IN DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION

Abstract

The main purpose of the study was to determine the extent of effectiveness of ICT enablers in agriculture extension services. Data were collected from the SAAOs of Rangpur and Dinajpur district during 15 February to 20 March, 2018. The sample size of the study was 90. For collecting data structured interview schedule were used. The effectiveness of ICT enablers was the focus issue of this study and it was measured by computing a composite effectiveness score based on each of the four dimensions, are: (i) frequency of use, (ii) importance of using in agriculture, (iii) ease to use and (v) maintenance and operational cost of ICT Enablers. Each of the dimensions was measured against ten ICT enablers. Each of the four dimensions was put against a four-point rating scale. A number of characteristics of the SAAOs were selected as the factors for relating with the effectiveness of ICT enablers and was measured by standard techniques. Correlation test was used to ascertain the relationships between the focus issue and the selected characteristics. It was found that 85.6 percent of the SAAOs perceived that the ICT enablers was medium effective, followed by 10.0 percent of the SAAOs perceived as “low effective” and 4.4 percent of the SAAOs perceived as “high effective”. The respondents had high effectiveness in importance of using ICT enablers dimension, followed by maintenance and operational cost, ease to use and frequency of use. SAAOs characteristics i.e. age and working experience had significant negative relationship with the effectiveness of ICT enablers; while education and ICT training received had positive significant relationship with effectiveness of ICT enablers. Family size, annual income and use of ICTs in agriculture extension services had no significant relationship with effectiveness of ICT enablers.