Developing a standardized tool for assessing the ICT competence of the agricultural extension personnel

Knowledge and information is the key ingredient for driving the engine socio-economic progress of an economy in the present century. Therefore, development in 21st century is driven by the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for collection, storage, processing, retrieval and dissemination of the agriculture information to farmers. ICTs offer means of facilitating two-way interaction in an easy, fast and reliable way between research-extension-farmer systems. In order to reap the potential benefits of ICTs in agriculture, development functionaries must be well competent in using all means of information and communications technologies for extension. Extension personnel’s competence in using ICTs for agriculture and allied activities benefit’s the individual, organizations and nation. Accordingly, the thrust of training for extensionists’ should be aligned towards designing competency-based ICT trainings. The preliminary step for planning a competency-based ICT training programme is assessment of the training gap i.e. difference between existing and required ICT competencies of extension personnel. Studies done earlier in this context are very diverse and focus on specific ICTs, rather than whole. This paper presents a set of standardized 45 statements for measuring the ICT competence of the extension personnel. A total of 118 statements were sent to 154 experts for relevancy testing through online Google form. The data obtained was analyzed using SPSS software and MS Excel. With the use of outlier analysis, factor analysis and reliability analysis, ICT competence tool for extension personnel were finalized. The competency tool will contribute towards effective human resource development interventions for the extension personnel.