Abstract:
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is one of the emerging driving
forces to disseminate the agricultural knowledge. Skilled extension personnel can grab
these opportunities for the diffusion of agricultural technologies to farming community.
Th
erefore, the present investigation measures
E
-
skills among agricultural experts of
Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs)
—
Farm Science Centers in Rajasthan and Gujarat states
of India. Data were solicited from
87 proportionately selected agricultural experts from
29
KVKs.
E
-
skills of experts were measured on 5
-
point Likert
–
type scale. The
high
level
of
E
-
skills among agricultural experts were identified in internet browsing, e
-
mailing,
Micro
-
Soft (MS) Word, MS Power
-
Point and mobile use for sending the text message
s.
The
agricultural
experts’ t
raining on ICTs had a positive and significant relationship with
E
-
skills while experts’ age had a negtive effect.
Elementary
in
use of ICT, analytical use of
ICT, use of mobile phone for information communication and use of I
CT for mass
communication were the major factors that governed the
E
-
skills. The total variance
explained by these factors was found 74.88%. Tactical
E
-
skills, informative
E
-
skills,
formal
E
-
skills and communicative
E
-
skills were identified as important le
vels of
E
-
skills
in order of their expertise. Hence, the study recommends to encourage the young
professionals and to impart more ICT based trainings for improving the
E
-
skills of
agricultural experts towards tactical level of
E
-
skills.
Keywords:
Agricultural experts
,
E
-
skills, ICTs, Krishi Vigyan Kendra.
