Assessing Rural Womens Perceptions of Effective Extension Methods for Promotion of Horticultural Crops

Effectiveness of extension education methods as perceived by rural women for promotion of horticultural crops was worked out to meet their assessed needs in areas of production, marketing and management. A sample of interested rural women 60 (30/village/training) between age group of 30-40 years, having land holding up to 2.5 acres and education up to Secondary were selected. In Burak (Gp1) training was imparted with the help of extension talk, group discussion and media (EM-1) while to the second group in Gawar village i. e. along with (EM-I), method demonstration was also organized with the help of technical expertise from the concerned technical departments (EM-II). Vegetable seeds and saplings of both Pomegranate and Papaya were distributed in both the villages for plantation. Data were collected with the help of structured interview schedule. . The results showed that Increase in knowledge and change in skill was reported in majority of respondents in both the villages with the use of extension methods. In village Burak after exposure to EM-I the overall increase in knowledge was observed in papaya (53.0 %) followed by general messages (50.9 %) and pomegranate (37.8 %). In village Gawar after exposure to EM-II, overall increase in knowledge was observed in general messages related to fruits & vegetables (52.5 %) followed by messages on papaya (49.6 %) and pomegranate (43.1 %). In village Burak, the skill acquisition by respondents regarding weeding (MS-2.6) was high whereas for pruning (MS-1.26) the skill acquisition was low. For rest of the messages skill acquisition was of medium level. In village Gawar, the skill acquisition for watering of plants (MS 3.0), protection of saplings & seed (MS 2.86), weeding (MS 2.73), preparation of nursery bed (MS 2.5) harvesting (MS 2.36), skill acquisition was found high to medium whereas for pruning (MS-1.53) the skill acquisition was low. However, EM-II (extension methods extension talk, group discussion and media exposure and method demonstration) revealed better results.