Pages 2021-1 FInal.cdr INTRODUCTION Lynton and Pareek (2011) defined training as being concerned with on job in- organisa�on and as aiming not primarily at knowing more but for behaving definitely for las�ng improvement on the job. Agricultural Officers (AOs) are the key technical personnel and their efficiency in working depends on their ability and c o m p e t e n c y b a c ke d w i t h t e c h n i c a l knowledge, understanding, and skills in agriculture and extension discipline. Due to technical break-throughs in agriculture and to keep pace with the recent developments, p e r i o d i c a l t ra i n i n g i s m a n d ato r y fo r agricultural officers which is the supreme factor that influences the job effec�veness of the agriculture officers. Hence, it is important to understand the a�tude of agricultural officers towards training. An a�tude is a predisposi�on or a tendency to respond posi�vely or nega�vely towards a certain idea, object, person or situa�on. The a�tude of the agricultural officers towards t ra i n i n g h a s d i re c t b e a r i n g o n t h e i r efficiency in job performance. 6544 Research Article Journal of Extension Educa�on Vol. 33 No.1, 2021 DOI: h�ps://doi.org/10.26725/ 1 1 3 544 548JEE.202 . .3 .6 -6 A�tude of Agricultural Officers towards Training and their Perceived Constraints Sandipamu Raahalya* and G.S.Sreedaya* ABSTRACT The present study was undertaken in two zones of Kerala, India. A sample of 90 Agricultural Officers (AOs) was randomly selected and informa�on was gathered and analyzed. A well structured interview schedule was used for data collec�on. A�tude of the AOs towards training was measured and Garret score ranking method was used to rank the constraints faced by the AOs. The results revealed that majority of the Agricultural Officers had neutral a�tude towards training and major constraints faced by AOs were lack of �me for extension ac�vi�es, lack of transport facili�es and lack of incen�ves reward system for be�er performance. Keywords: Agricultural Officers; Kerala; A�tude; Training; Mass media contact; Scien�fic orienta�on * D e p a r t m e n t o f A g r i c u l t u r a l E x t e n s i o n , C o l l e g e o f A g r i c u l t u re , K A U , Ve l l a y a n i , Ke r a l a Received : 01-08-2021; Accepted: 10-02-2022 6545A�tude of Agricultural Officers towards Training and their Perceived Constraints The agricultural officers working in t h e D e p a r t m e n t o f A g r i c u l t u r e Development and Farmers welfare face many constraints which ul�mately affect their interac�on with farmers and various decision making processes. Victor (2019) has pointed out the major constraints faced by the Agricultural Officers working in the Kerala viz., State of excessive workload, lack of promo�onal opportuni�es, lack of proper training schedule of the officer, lack of suitability of different schemes and its implementa�on in different locali�es and poli�cal interference in day to day ac�vity. Hence, the present study was undertaken with the objec�ve to measure the a�tude of AOs towards training and the constraints recognised by them. METHODOLOGY The Agricultural Officers working in Kerala State Department of Agriculture in Kannur and Thiruvananthapuram were randomly selected. Totally, 90 Agricultural Officers, of which 45 from Kannur and 45 from Thiruvananthapuram districts were randomly selected using simple random sampling procedure. Ex-post- facto research design was used for the study. A well structured interview schedule was prepared a�er consulta�on with the experts in extension and other related fields. The scale developed by Kulhari (1980) was used to quan�fy the a�tude score. The scale had 13 statements and the score range was between 13 and 65. It was measured using five point con�nuum namely, strongly agree, agree, undecided, disagree and strongly disagree with weightage of 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 respec�vely for posi�ve statements and reversed for nega�ve statements. Age, job experience, mass media contact, organisa�onal commitment and scien�fic orienta�on were the independent variables selected based on judges ra�ng and relevancy index whereas a�tude of agricultural officers towards training was the dependent variable of the study. Correla�on analysis was carried out to study the rela�onship between independent and dependent variables. With the help of detailed review of literature and discussion with experts, 16 constraints faced by Agricultural Officers were enlisted. The respondents were asked to rank the iden�fied constraints by indica�ng their response for each constraint on a four point con�nuum namely, most important, important, least important and not important with weightage of 4, 3, 2, 1 respec�vely. Finally the constraints were ranked using Garret score ranking method. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION It could be observed from Table 1 that in Thiruvananthapuram district, 60 per cent of respondents had neutral a�tude towards training whereas, 28.89 per cent and 11.11 per cent of respondents had unfavourable and favourable a�tude 6546 Table 1 Distribu�on of AOs based on their A�tude towards Training Category Thiruvananthapuram (n=45) Kannur (n=45) Total (N=90) F % F % F % Favourable 5 11.11 10 22.22 15 16.67 Neutral 27 60.00 35 77.78 62 68.89 Unfavourable 13 28.89 0 0 13 14.44 Total 45 100 45 100 90 100 F= Frequency Journal of Extension Educa�on towards training respec�vely. In Kannur district, most (77.78 per cent) of the respondents had neutral a�tude followed by 22.22 per cent of the respondents had favourable a�tude and no respondents were having unfavourable a�tude towards training. Overall data show that, majority (68.89 per cent) of the respondents were having neutral a�tude towards training, while 16.67 per cent had favourable a � t u d e a n d 1 4 . 4 4 p e r c e n t h a d unfavourable a�tude towards training. This might be due to the importance of training for respondents and their direct experience of in-service training programmes which they have a�ended last two years. The present findings are in line with the findings of Vijaibabu (2005). The results of correla�on analysis show that (Table 2), mass media contact was significantly and posi�vely correlated with the A�tude of AOs towards training at 5% level of significance. This significant influence of mass media exposure on a�tude towards training might be due the fact that the officers who regularly update the informa�on from various channels were very well aware of the advantage of mass media exposure and they develop a favourable a�tude towards training. Scien�fic orienta�on of AOs was posi�vely and significantly correlated with the a�tude of AOs towards training. Scien�fic orienta�on is the degree to which an individual communicator is oriented to the use of scien�fic methods in decision making in extension communica�on. It is obvious that officers who were interested in scien�fic methods must have a desire to update their knowledge through training. 6547 Table 3 shows the major constraints faced by agricultural officers in Kannur and Thiruvananthapuram districts. Out of several constraints studied, the major constraints iden�fied in the case of Agricultural Officers were, lack of �me for extension ac�vi�es (rank 1), lack of transport facili�es (rank 2), lack of incen�ves and reward system for be�er performance (rank 3), lack of training in extension communica�on (rank 4) and lack of promo�onal opportuni�es (rank 5). Table 3. Distribu�on of Respondents based on Major Constraints CONCLUSION Based on the results it can be concluded that even though majority of the agricultural officers had a neutral a�tude towards training, they expressed their requirement of training in the areas 'Iden�fica�on of pests and their control in important crops', 'integrated pest control' and 'iden�fica�on of diseases and their control in important crops'. Hence adequate training need to be given to the agricultural Table 2. Rela�onship of Selected Characteris�cs of Agriculture Officers and A�tude of Agricultural Officers towards Training '*' Significant at 5% level, 'NS' Non-significant A�tude of Agricultural Officers towards Training and their Perceived Constraints officers in order to improve their job performance. Lack of �me for extension ac�vi�es, lack of transport facili�es, lack of incen�ves and reward system for be�er performance, lack of training in extension communica�on and lack of promo�onal opportuni�es were the major constraints faced by the agricultural officers. Hence the policy makers have to design appropriate Hence the policy makers have to design appropriate strategies in order to improve Sl.No. Items Coefficient of Correla�on ‘r’ Value 1. Age 2. Job experience 3. Mass media contact 4. Organiza�onal commitment 5. Scien�fic orienta�on 0.127 NS - 0.050 NS 0.215* - 0.215* 0.222* Gare� Sl.No Constraints score Rank 1. Lack of �me for extension ac�vi�es 1 2. Lack of transport facili�es 2 3. Lack of incen�ves and reward system for 3 be�er performance 4. Lack of training in extension communica�on 4 5. Lack of promo�onal opportuni�es 59.99 44.11 42.83 40.50 40.00 5 6548 the job performance of agricultural officers keeping in view of the results of the study. REFERENCES Kulhari, V. S. (1980). A study of reorganized Agricultural Training and Visit system in Chambal Command Area Development Project in Rajasthan. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Indian Agricultural Research Ins�tute, New Delhi, pp 235. Lynton, R. P & Pareek, U. (2011). Training for Development. SAGE publishing India. Victor, R. A. (2019). Constraints faced by the Agricultural Officers of Kerala State Department of Agriculture. Journal of Humani�es and Social Science, 24 (1), 15- 17. Vijaibabu, D. (2005). Job competence of a g r i c u l t u r a l o ffi c e r s i n t h e s t a t e department of agriculture in Tamil Nadu. Unpublished M.Sc.(Ag) thesis, Acharya N. G. 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