Farmers' Preferences for Animal Husbandry Advisory Services of Public and Private Extension Service Organizations in Meghalaya

Abstract

A study was conducted during 2020-21 in Ri-Bhoi district of Meghalaya involving two types of extension organizations i.e., public; Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Ri-Bhoi, and private; Rural Resource and Training Centre (RRTC) to assess the farmers' preferences for animal husbandry advisory services provided by them. The data were collected from randomly chosen120 beneficiaryfarmers through structured interview schedule. Preferences of farmers for various animal husbandry advisory services were assessed on the basis of various dimensions, viz., adequacy, relevancy, timeliness, accessibility and need fulfillment. The scores assigned on a scale of 0 to 3 for each of the five parameters of preferences, i.e., no preference (0), low preference (1), moderate preference (2), and high preference (3). To analyze the perceived degree of preferences of farmers about farm advisory services, and the mean scores for each advisory were calculated. The mean differences of KVK, Ri-Bhoi and RRTC beneficiary farmers' perceived preference for services were found to be significantly different for accessibility at 0.01 level of significant. The study revealed that KVK and RRTC were almost similar with regard to farmers' preference for the animal husbandry service provided by them.