The training can be more valuable and significant when analysis of training needs prior to beginning of training programmes and imparting knowledge according to the needs of the farmers. A list of seven major dairy practices/components was prepared to know training need index (TNI) of the dairy farmers of Jammu district. Under each major component, specific and relevant training need items were collected and systematically incorporated in to the interview schedule and administered. The results revealed that even in the most popular areas of training, there was an inadequacy. According to livestock owners perceived training needs, animal health (I), followed by marketing and financial management (II), breeding and general management (III), milking hygiene practices (IV), animal nutrition (V), animal welfare management (VI) and housing and environment management (VII) respectively. Therefore, the extension agencies and training imparting agencies in border belts of Jammu district has to give special emphasis on health care, feeding and breeding during dairy farmers training for increasing the livestock productivity and improving the living standards of the farmers. The various dairy extension agencies have to re-orient their trainings based on these findings to reduce the existing technological and adoption gap among the dairy farmers.Highlights• Landless and marginal farmers dependency is increasing towards dairy farming due to shrinkage of agriculture land.• Timely training at farmers door step on animal health can significantly improve their income and increase their interest in the livestock farming.Keywords: Training needs index, dairy practices and farmersTraining is a circular process that begins with needs identification and after a number of steps ends with evaluation of the training activity. Training is a process of acquisition of new skills, attitude and knowledge in the context of preparing for entry into a vocation or improving ones productivity in an organization or enterprise. A change or deficiency in any step of the training process affects the whole system. Effective training requires a clear picture of how the trainees will need to use information after training in place of local practices what they have adopted before in their situation. Lynton and Pareek (1990) stated that training consists largely of well-organized opportunities for participants to acquire necessary understanding and skill. Farmer training is directed towards improving their job efficiency in farming. The kind of education we call as training is not for knowing more but behaving differently. Farmer training is education that most often takes place outside formal learning institutions. It differs from education in schools because it is geared towards adult learning. Training needs assessment is one of the crucial steps towards identifying the area of farmers, interest, design and development of curriculum that can best suit to the existing real conditions of farmers. Caffarela (2002) noted that a AGRICULTURE EXTENSIONInternational Journal of Agriculture, Environment and BiotechnologyCitation: IJAEB: 10(2): 245-251, April 2017DOI: 10.5958/2230-732X.2017.00029.8©2017 New Delhi Publishers. All rights reserved
Raina et al.
246 Print ISSN : 1974-1712 Online ISSN : 2230-732X
systematic process of farmers training must include;
needs assessment, goal and objectives setting,
organizing instructional methods and techniques,
monitoring and evaluation.
Davis and Rylance (2005) suggested that training
focused on enterprise skills, such as market
analysis, distribution and business management,
would support small scale farmers in identifying
the technologies that would encourage them most
and would help them to participate in agricultural
innovation. Importance of training needs to the
dairy farmers is progressively realized all over
the world. It is observed that dairy farmers play
a significant role not only in agriculture but also
in the efficient use of animal husbandry practices.
Dairy farmers play very important role not only
in maintaining their cattle but also managing their
farms, depending upon the situational personal
and socio-economic characteristics of the family to
which they belong.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
A field survey was conducted to collect information
on wide array of training needs of rural dairy
farmers of Jammu And Kashmir State. The state
comprises of three regions namely Jammu, Kashmir
and Ladakh region is located between 32°.17 and
37°.06 North Latitude and 73°.2 and 80°.36 East
Longitude in the Himalayan region. Among Jammu
region, Jammu district was purposively selected
of Jammu and Kashmir as it had maximum milch
bovine population and production potentials in
dairying. From the selected district, five blocks
namely Satwari, Bishnah, R.S. Pura, Arnia and
Suchetgarh blocks of Jammu district, based on
maximum milch bovine inhabitants and production
potentials in dairying were drawn up for inclusion
in the present study .
From each selected block, five outstanding milch
bovine population villages were selected purposively
and from each village, six farmers selected randomly
making a total of 150 farmer respondents were
covered under the study. Data collection from
randomly selected respondents was made by using
pre-tested ‘structured schedule’ through personal
interview method. For this purpose, an interview
schedule was constructed for data collection from
respondents in the light of the objectives of the
study. The selected respondents were personally
interviewed at their place of residence/ field by the
investigators and their responses were recorded in
the schedule. Utmost care was taken to make the
respondents to understand about the objectives of
the study and clarified their doubts in the interview
schedule.
For a comprehensive view, the training needs of
dairy growers were categorized into seven broad
categories for the study viz, milk quality and
hygiene practices, animal health management,
animal nutrition, animal welfare management,
breeding and general management, housing and
environment management, marketing and financial
management. Under each major component, specific
and relevant training need practices were collected
through different review of literature, discussion
with state extension functionaries, progressive
dairy farmers as well as investigators own field
experiences and were systematically incorporated
in the interview schedule. The schedules were
administered to the indented respondents for data
collection. In this regard, the dairy farmers were
requested to give a tick in one of the three response
categories (viz. Most Needed, Needed and Least
Needed) provided against the identified specific
items under each major component based on their
perceived needs for providing training to them for
further improvement in their dairying system and
livelihood. Each major training needs comprises
of six to seven sub heads, thus operations making
total of thirty seven training needs practices in dairy
farming.
Data Analysis
The farmer’s responses were collected in a 3– point
continuum scale as Most Needed, Needed and Least
needed by assigning scores 3, 2 and 1 respectively.
Option (Response category) Score
Most Needed (MN) 3
Needed (N) 2
Least needed (LN) 1
Weighted Score (WS) = (No. of MN × 3) + (No. of
N × 2) + (No. of LN × 1)
Total No. of MN + N + LN
The Training Need Index (TNI) was computed with
the help of following formula (Patil and Kokate,
2011).