EFFECTIVENESS OF UNION INFORMATION AND SERVICE CENTER IN UTILIZATION OF FARM INFORMATION

Abstract

The research was designed to determine the effectiveness of Union Information and Service Center (UISC) in utilization of farm information by the farmers, to determine the selected characteristics of the farmers, to explore the relationships between effectiveness of UISC with their selected characteristics and to ascertain the problems faced by the farmers in receiving farm information and their suggestions to overcome these problems. Data were collected using interview schedule from a sample of 104 farmers out of 400 using multistage random sampling procedure during 15 March to 15 April 2014. Usual descriptive statistical parameters and Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (r) was used in this study as data analyzing tool. The effectiveness of UISC was determined on 10 selected farm information based on three dimensions namely information receipt, understanding and application. The highest effective information was found on ‘seed production and preservation technology of rice. The lowest effective information was ‘alternate wetting and drying irrigation’. The highest proportion (52.9 percent) of the farmers had medium effectiveness of UISC in receiving farm information compared to 22.1 percent high effectiveness and 25 percent low effectiveness. Among the 10 characteristics of the farmers, eight of them showed positive relationships with the effectiveness of UISC while two have no significant relationships. The most important problem faced by the farmers was ‘lack of long term training program from UISC regarding crop production’ (72.11 percent) and lowest perceived problem was ‘lack of regular publication on farm information from UISC’ (28.84 percent). The most important suggestion mentioned by the farmers was ‘organizing more training programs for the farmers’ (69.23 percent) and  suggestion mentioned by the least number of  farmers was ‘enhancing publication related to farm information and solution of common farm problems’ (25.96 percent)