PERCEPTION OF THE MAIZE FARMERS TOWARDS AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION AGENTS

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine perception of the maize farmers towards agricultural extension agents, to explore the relationship between ten selected characteristics of the maize farmers and their perception towards agricultural extension agents and to identify the problems faced by the farmers in accessing modern agricultural information. Chehelgazi union under Sadar upazila of Dinajpur district was the locale of the study area. Randomly selected 90 farmers’ from a population of 904 was selected as sample of the study. Data were collected during 15 February to 24 March 2018. Different questions and scales were developed to measure perception and other key issues for the study. Descriptive statistics like mean, standard deviation, range, percentage and rank were used to interpret data. Perception of maize farmers towards agricultural extension agents was measured by using Likert scale. Pearson’s product Moment Correlation coefficient (r) was computed to explore the relationship between the selected characteristics of the farmers and their perception towards agricultural extension agents. Result indicate that the majority (90.0 percent) of the respondents had favourable perception towards agricultural extension agents, while 8.9 percent of them had neutral perception and only 1.1 percent of them had unfavourable perception towards agricultural extension agents. Out of ten selected characteristics, five characteristics of the respondents such as family size, annual family income, training received, aspiration and extension media contact had significant positive relationships with their perception. The other selected characteristics of the farmers namely, age, education qualification, farm size, maize farming experience and agricultural knowledge did not show any significant relationship with their perception. “Low literacy level for understanding modern agricultural information” became first major problem faced by the maize farmers in accessing agricultural information.