Extension Education and Rural Development: Methods and Adoption
Extension Education tests how information reaches farmers, the way adoption happens, and the rural development institutions that carry the message.
Teaching methods
Individual contact: farm and home visits, office calls, telephone calls, personal letters. Group contact: method demonstration, result demonstration, field day, group meeting, farmers' training. Mass contact: radio, television, newspaper, leaflet, exhibition, Kisan Call Centre.
Adoption and diffusion
Adoption proceeds in five stages: awareness, interest, evaluation, trial and adoption. Innovativeness categories are innovators (about 2.5%), early adopters (13.5%), early majority (34%), late majority (34%) and laggards (16%). A local leader or progressive farmer accelerates diffusion because farmers trust someone who has tried the practice on his own field.
Institutions
Panchayati Raj bodies, cooperatives, Krishi Vigyan Kendras, Agricultural Technology Management Agencies and self-help groups deliver credit, input and training in rural areas.
Worked example
An extension worker must decide how to handle a new pest reported by one farmer. A mass radio broadcast would raise awareness but wastes effort and cannot confirm diagnosis. The correct first step is an individual farm visit to inspect the damage, followed by a result demonstration on that field during a field day so neighbouring farmers see the recovered crop. That sequence links individual contact for diagnosis with group contact for diffusion.
Traps
- Calling a radio talk a group method; it is mass contact.
- Stating that method demonstration shows results. It teaches a skill; the result demonstration shows outcome.
- Treating adoption as a single decision rather than a five-stage process.