| Agricultural sector occupies a conspicuous place in the economy of Pakistan. The overall objective of agricultural sector is to enhance agricultural productivity in the country on sustainable basis, so that farmers income may be enhanced, domestic requirements be met and reasonable surplus commodities be made available for export. In this scenario agricultural extension has key role to play. Unless it has a competent field force with leadership qualities, it may not be able to perform this gigantic task. Realizing this, Government of Punjab initiated “Human Resource Development Project” for strengthening the competencies of extension field staff. The responsibility of running this programme was entrusted to the Barani Agricultural Training Institute Rawalpindi. The study was conducted with the objective to find out the perceptions of the participants of this programme to find out the beneficial and shortcomings of that programme. So for 128 Field Assistants have been provided in-service training under this project. A sample size of 97 participants of the said training programme was selected by using the Fitz-gibbon and Morris (1987) table. The data was collected through a validated interview schedule. The data was statistically analyzed with the help of SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) for drawing appropriate conclusion. The study reveals that most of the respondents were in favor of training programme because it is a good effort to enhance their skills and knowledge. Some problems were also being faced at different stages of training. The study recommended to the higher authorities of Agriculture Extension and Research Department that they should provide better facilities during training and better incentive after training for improving the attraction of training; they should also provided printed material regarding the delivered lectures of training for future use. |
