5892

Training Need Assessment on Communication  
Competencies of Extensionists working in Krishi Vigyan Kendras 

(Farm Science Centres)

Jagriti Rohit1 and C.N. Anshida Beevi2  

ABSTRACT
 Training need assessment has always been an important area in the designing the 
capacity development programme for the extensionists. It helps to make the extensionists 
updated, upgraded and competent in their field. Training need using Borich Need 
Assessment Model was carried out in the four zones of Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVK) to 
assess the communication competencies of the extensionists. The zones of KVKs were 
selected using simple random sampling without replacement method. From each zone, 
20 KVKs were selected randomly and 3 extensionists from each KVK were selected by 
using simple random sampling technique. The total sample size was 240. Mean weighted 
discrepancy score (MWDS) was used to study the training needs. The results of the study 
indicated that the highest level of training need  was expressed in their ability to use 
computer (Internet) and PowerPoint presentation followed by their “ability to prepare 
visual aids to help deliver information” while lowest mean weighted discrepancy score 
was given to their ability in presenting the seminar. Kruskal wallis test was carried out 
to find the differences among the zones of KVK. Attention should be given to designing 
inservice training programmes which can adequately address the present training needs 
of the extensionists.

Keywords : Extensionists; Krishi Vigyan Kendra; Kruskal-Wallis test; Training Need; 
Borich Need Hierarchy; 

1 & 2.  Scientists, ICAR- Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad-500059.

Received : 14-11-2017; Accepted : 13-01-2018

Journal of Extension Education
Vol. 29  No. 3,  2017
DOI:https://doi.org/10.26725/JEE.2017.3.29.5892-5901

INTRODUCTION 

     Agriculture holds an important 
place in the Indian economy and currently 
India is among the top two agricultural 
producers in the world. Though 
agriculture employs about 51 per cent 
of the total work force, its contribution 
towards Gross Domestic Product is merely 
11.8 per cent (Agricultural Statistics at 

a Glance, 2014). India saw remarkable 
progress in food production which has 
increased four folds in the last six decades. 
Policy, research and extension support 
are among the various drivers which 
helped to attain this herculean task. In 
agricultural development, extension and 
advisory services play a vital role for 
nutritional security, food sovereignty, and 



5893

economic stability.  In order to contribute 
better towards agricultural development, 
these extension and advisory need 
new capacities to confront the present 
challenges in agriculture. 

 Agricultural extension is said to 
be a public service for human resource 
development of people engaged in 
agriculture including farmers. Along with 
development of the clientele, extension 
professionals need to be upgraded 
and updated with the existing and 
new skills. Success of an organization 
is directly related to the skill of its 
human resource. Competent human 
resources are the valuable assets to the 
extension organization. Farm extension 
services have reaffirmed their essential 
role in agrarian development, poverty 
reduction and rural prosperity (Birner 
and Anderson, 2007). The ability of 
extension professionals to design, 
develop, deliver and evaluate extension 
programmes determines the effectiveness 
of an extension organization as they are 
directly responsible to the people. Their 
ability to perform extension tasks is 
generally said to be a function of their job 
competencies. Communication skill is an 
important component of the professional 
competencies. Communication 
competencies assume a greater role 
in agricultural extension. Extension 
professionals need to be efficient in 
communicating with the farmers so 
that latest technologies and information 
is provided to them.  Communication 
competency may be defined as the ability 

to listen and to communicate effectively 
orally and in writing. Effective and efficient 
communication of farm information is 
an important pre-requisite for affecting 
adoption of agricultural innovations. The 
extension workers as communicators 
of farm information became an 
indispensable element in the process 
of communication in implementing and 
securing desired change in agriculture. 
The development in agriculture depends 
on communication. Thus, there is 
need to understand training needs of 
extension personnel in communication 
competencies. 

 Competency of extension 
professionals can be enhanced by 
providing training opportunities that are 
focused on areas related to competency 
(Mitchell, 2002). Cyr (2008) showed that 
the extension functionaries enhanced 
their facilitation competency by 
participating in the training. 

 In this scenario, the present study 
is an attempt to identify and prioritize 
the communication training needs of 
extensionists, so that necessary measures 
would be suggested to develop suitable 
capacity building modules and conduct 
capacity enhancement programmes for 
them.

METHODOLOGY

Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) were 
selected purposively as an organization 
for the present study due to the immense 
importance given to them in providing 

Training Need Assessment on Communication Competencies of Extensionists working in Krishi Vigyan Kendras  
(Farm Science Centres)



5894

extension services to the farmers.  Four 
KVK zones selected were

1. Zone I:  Delhi, Haryana, Jammu and 
Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and 
Punjab     

2. Zone II: Bihar, Jharkhand, West 
Bengal and Andaman and Nicobar

3. Zone IV: Uttar Pradesh and 
Uttarakhand

4. Zone VII: Chhattisgarh, Madhya 
Pradesh and Odisha

 From each zone, twenty ICAR-
KVKs and three extensionists from 
each KVK were selected following 
simple random sampling technique. 
Hence, the total sample size was  240. 
An extensionist, for the present study, 
was operationalized as an extension 
professional having acquired a specialised 
degree in agricultural sciences or allied 
sciences, working in Krishi Vigyan 
Kendras and directly in contact with the 
clientele/ farmers. Extensionists can be 
synonymously used for subject matter 
specialist in Krishi Vigyan Kendra.  

 Communication competency 
was operationalized as ability of 
extension professionals to delivering 
radio talks, establishing rapport with 
the farmers, visual aids prepration to 
help deliver information,  use computer 
(internet) and power point presentation, 
convey extension messages effectively, 
presentation in seminars, persuade 
farmers to adopt technologies, write 

effectively for target audience, provide 
feedback of researchable problems to 
researchers and  delivering TV talks. 
The questionnaire comprising these ten 
items was administered to the sample 
respondents. 

 Training need is operationalized in 
this study as the difference in the skills 
expected or required by extensionists 
in their job and the actual skills 
possessed by them. The present study 
adopted the Borich Need Assessment 
Model (Borich, 1980) which relies on 
the extension agents’ judgments about 
their own performances. A dichotomous 
importance vs possessed competency five 
point continuums, from least important 
to most important and very low to very 
high was developed. A score of 1 on 
the scale signified the least important 
competency/very low possession and 
number 5 denoted the most important 
competency/very high possession.  
The extensionists were asked to give 
their self-perceived responses on the 
identified 10 communication competency 
statements for both importance  
and possessed competency. Reliability 
as a measure of internal consistency was 
established using Cronbach’s alpha and 
the values were 0.864 for the importance 
level and 0.835 for the competence  
level.

Discrepancy Score = I-C

Weight Discrepancy Score = I (I-C)

Mean Weight Discrepancies Scores = Σ I 
(I-C)/n

Journal of Extension Education



5895

 In the above equations,  
I is Importance level, C is  
Competency level and n is number of 
extensionists.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 
Personal Profile of  Extensionists
 The personal profile of the 
extensionists is presented in Table 1. 

Table 1.
Personal Profile of the Extensionists

 n=240
Sl. 
No.

Variables Category Frequency Percentage

1. Age
<35 48 17.5
35-50 150 62.5
>50 52 20.0

2. Gender
Male 157 65.4
Female 83 34.6

3. Experience
1-10  years 81 33.8
11-21 years 93 38.8
> 21 years 66 27.5

4. Education
Post-graduation 75 31.3
Ph.D. 165 68.7

5. Position
Subject matter specialist 177 73.8
Programme coordinator 63 26.3

6. Type of KVK
ICAR 69 28.8
SAU 129 53.8
NGO 42 17.5

Training Need Assessment 

 The results of the training 
need analysis for communication 
competencies based on mean weighted 
discrepancy score are depicted in Table 2. 
The highest mean weighted discrepancy 
score (5.044) was accorded to the 
“ability to use computer (internet) and 
PowerPoint presentation”. This means 
that highest training need is in the use 
of computer and internet is perceived 

by the respondents. As computers and 
ICT have become indispensible part 
of work culture, the extensionists felt 
the need to get training in these areas.  
Okeowo (2015) also laid emphasis on 
training in the field of ICT in agriculture 
for the extension agents. Visual aids 
are important tools to communicate 
with the rural people. It is very effective 
even with the illiterate masses. So, the 
extensionists felt the need to enhance 
their abiltiy to prepare different types  

Training Need Assessment on Communication Competencies of Extensionists working in Krishi Vigyan Kendras  
(Farm Science Centres)



5896

of visual aids. The third rank in the 
perceived training need was “ability to 
convey extension method effectively” 
(MWDS 5.012). Extension professionals 
need to build good relationships and 
rapport with farmers so as to enable the 
later to develop trust and confidence of 
the extension professionals. The lowest 

rank on the training need assessment 
was given to their ability to present 
a seminar (MWDS 2.659). Majority  
of the extensionists had Ph.D. as  
their highest degree and so they  
were well versed in their subject. It helped 
them to prepare and present seminar 
well.

Table 2.
 Training Need Analysis for Communication Competencies

 n=240

Sl. 
No. 

   Competencies 

Level of 
Possession

Level of 
Importance

MWDS
Rank 

Mean
Std 
dev

Mean
Std 
dev

1. Delivering radio talks 2.966 0.683 4.179 0.514 3.601 IX

2. Establishing rapport with the 
farmers

3.195 0.707 4.358 0.530 3.708 VII

3. Ability to prepare visual aids 
to help deliver information 

2.728 0.705 4.320 0.485 5.039 II

4. Ability to use computer 
(Internet) and Power Point 
presentation

2.539 0.909 4.416 0.579 5.044 I

5. Ability to convey extension 
messages effectively

3.1 0.707 4.725 0.456 5.012 III

6. Ability to present in seminar 3.237 0.657 4.058 0.553 2.659 X
7. Ability to persuade farmers to 

adopt technologies
3.004 0.705 4.570 0.504 4.7 IV

8. Effective writing for target 
audience

2.616 0.745 4.033 0.516 3.693 VIII

9. Provide feedback of 
researchable problems to 
researchers

3.087 0.729 4.341 0.500 3.875 V

10. Delivering TV talks 2.929 0.690 4.212 0.680 3.760 VI

Journal of Extension Education



5897

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(Farm Science Centres)



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A comparison among the training needs 
of extensionists in the selected Zones of 
KVK was studied using Kruskal Wallis test 
statistics and depicted in Table 3. Out of 
8 competencies statements, a significant 
difference was observed in training needs 
among extensionists in the selected Zones 
of KVK on the following competencies 
statements; Ability to prepare visual aids 
to help deliver information and write 
effectively for target audience, ability to 
use computer(Internet) and PowerPoint 
presentation  (chi-square 14.741 at 0.05 
level of significance),  ability to persuade 
farmers to adopt technologies  (chi-
square18.997 at 0.01 level of significance), 
delivering TV talks (chi-square 31.417 at 
0.01 level of significance). 

  Training need for communication 
competency was assessed based on the 

gender of the extension professionals 
(Table 4). “Ability to convey extension 
messages effectively” was accorded the 
highest MWDS for both male (MWDS 
5.033) and female (MWDS 5.045) 
extensionists respectively.  While the 
second rank for the perceived training 
need was given to “ability to persuade 
farmers to adopt technologies” for both 
male and female extensionists. “Ability to 
use computer (internet) and PowerPoint 
presentation” was ranked third (MWDS 
4.117) for the female extensionists 
whereas it was accorded sixth rank 
in terms of MWDS (3.781) by the male 
extensionists. The third highest MWDS 
(3.925) for the male extensonists was 
delivering TV talks. The lowest rank for 
both male and female extensionists was 
their ability to present in seminars. 

Table 4.
Comparison of Training Need Between Male and Female Extensionists

n=240

Sl.
No.

Communication 
Competency

Female
 n=83

(MWDS)
Rank 

Male 
n=177

(MWDS)
Rank 

1. Delivering radio talks 3.928 VI 3.417 IX

2. Establishing rapport with the 
farmers

3.736 VIII 3.703 VII

3. Ability to prepare visual aids 
to help deliver information to 
audience

4.064 IV 3.830 V

4. Ability to use computer 
(internet) and power point 
presentation

4.117 III 3.781 VI

Training Need Assessment on Communication Competencies of Extensionists working in Krishi Vigyan Kendras  
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5900

5. Ability to convey extension 
messages effectively

5.045 I 5.033 I

6. Ability to present in seminar 2.688 X 2.640 X

7. Ability to persuade farmers to 
adopt technologies

4.700 II 4.709 II

8. Write effectively for target 
audience

4.052 V 3.516 VIII

9. Provide feedback of 
researchable problems to 
Researchers

3.829 VII 3.894 IV

10. Delivering TV talks 3.446 IX 3.925 III

CONCLUSION 

 Communication being one 
of the core competencies is vital for 
overall professional competency of the 
extensionists. The extension professionals 
should be able to communicate 
effectively with their clientele to improve 
their efficiency at job. These differences 
in the competency levels could be 
attributed due to the lack of in-service 
training programmes. The approaches 
and practices of delivering extension 
services are consistently evolving and 
curriculum of training institutions being 
improved based on new developments. 
The communication training need to 
be further analyzed in terms of depth, 
content and scope for improvement.  
The in-service training should be 
systematized and regularized or at least 
the frequency of in-service training 
should be increased in the future so that 
communication skills of extension agents 

in the field are consistently upgraded and 
their confidence levels on communication 
competencies further enhanced. 

REFERENCES 

Agricultural Statistics at a Glance. (2014). 
Ministry of Agriculture, Government 
of India. New Delhi. Oxford University 
Press. Retrieved from http://eands.
dacnet.nic.in/PDF/Agricultural-
Statistics-At-Glance2014.pdf

Birner, R. & Anderson, J. R. (2007). How 
to make agricultural extension demand 
driven? The case of India's agricultural 
extension policy. International Food 
Policy Research Institute, 729.

Borich, G. D. (1980). A needs assessment 
model for conducting follow-up 
studies. Journal of Teacher Education, 
31(3), 39-42.

Cyr, L. F. (2008). Facilitation competence: 
A catalyst for effective extension work. 
Journal of Extension, 46(4).

Journal of Extension Education



5901

Mitchell, B.O. (2002). Core Competencies 
for the cooperative extension system. 
Executive Report, Sub-competencies 
Study. Administrative County 
Leaders. North Carolina Cooperative 
Extensions, P. 20.

Nath,  Dipak., Jain, P. K., Talukdar, R. 
K & Hansra, B.S. (2016). Constraints 
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Krishi Vigyan Kendra in North Eastern 
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Education. 28(2), 5665-5668.

Okeweo, A.T. (2015). Analysis of 
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Training Need Assessment on Communication Competencies of Extensionists working in Krishi Vigyan Kendras  
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