ASSESSMENT OF INNOVATION ADOPTION COMPETENCY OF THE FARMERS UNDER GOVERNMENT AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION SERVICES

Abstract

The purposes of the study were to determine the extent of competency of the farmers on innovation adoption, to determine the relationships between the extent of competency of the farmers and their selected characteristics and to explore the problems confrontation of the farmers in adopting innovation. Data were collected from four villages (Shuvra, Sadipur, Mostofabad and Mujahidpur) of Chehelgazi union of Sadar upazila under Dinajpur district during 12st August to 10th September 2019. The sample size of the study was 105 farmers and it was drawn from a population of 997 using simple random sampling method. Structured interview schedule were used for data collection. To measure the competency of the farmers on innovation adoption, 18 statements under three aspects of competency were measured along with a four-point rating scale. The majority of the farmers (61.90 percent) had medium competency, 20.00 percent had low competency and 18.10 percent had high competency on innovation adoption. Among the ten selected characteristics of the farmers six characteristics namely; educational qualification, annual family income, training received, extension media contact, attitude towards technology and scientific orientation had positive significant relationships, while age had negative significant relationship and household size, farm size and organizational participation had non-significant relationships with their competency on innovation adoption. Out of 18 statements of competency on innovation adoption ‘controlling insect pest problem by sex pheromone trap’ has ranked first (232) while ‘accelerating planting and harvesting process by combine harvester (74) has last ranked as mentioned by the farmers. ‘High cost of modern agricultural machineries’ was the top ranked problem mentioned by the farmers followed by ‘not getting fair price of agricultural produces’ and ‘lack of government incentives’.