MSc

ABSTRACT

Recent years have seen the emergence of Entrepreneurship development programmes (EDP) as a major extension intervention for income and employment generation in agriculture and allied sectors. Both government and non-government organizations are working towards organizing EDP in agricultural sector of which, Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) assumed great significance. KVKs are the first line transfer of technology (TOT) centres of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). They served as nodal agricultural resource centres at the district level, and had significant role in farmers’ socio-economic development.
It was in this pretext, the present study was undertaken to analyse the perceived entrepreneurial needs of KVK trainees, to evaluate the extent to which the entrepreneurial development training modules met the needs of the trainees, to delineate the factors affecting the effectiveness of entrepreneurship development trainings and evolve recommendations for improving the entrepreneurship development training programs of KVKs. The inputs from the results of the study can be used to improve the EDP trainings of KVKs and in turn ensure sustainable agricultural development.
All the 14 districts of Kerala had a KVK which worked under different host organizations viz. Kerala Agricultural University (KAU), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Among the 14 KVKs a total of 5 KVKs (2 KAU KVKs, 2 ICAR KVKs and 1 NGO KVK) to represent southern, central and northern regions of the state were selected for the study. Random sampling was followed in each region to select KVK, Kasaragod (ICAR) and KVK Malappuram (KAU) from northern region, KVK, Alappuzha (ICAR) and KVK, Kottayam (KAU) from central and KVK Trivandrum (NGO) from the southern region. Respondent selection also followed random sampling technique to select 20 EDP trainees from each of the selected KVKs to make a total sample of 100 trainees.
The results on the profile of KVK EDP trainees showed that majority (47%) of the respondents belonged to the middle age group (36 to 50 years) and 60 per cent of them had acquired high school level of education while 34.00 per cent of them possessed educational qualification up to college level.

The perceived entrepreneurial needs of KVK trainees quantified using Training Need Index (TNI) indicated highest training need for packaging and marketing (TNI=91.10) followed by value addition (TNI =90) in mushroom EDP. Apiculture trainees had honey extraction and essential operations (TNI =90) followed by marketing and business of honey (TNI =86.60) as the most sought after areas in apiculture EDP. Technology upgradation (TNI=92.5) and packaging and marketing techniques (TNI=88.33) were the areas that showed maximum need for training in value addition EDP. Further Kruskal-Wallis test performed to compare the training need of EDP trainees from different KVKs showed that there was no significant difference in the TN among the trainees. The results of content analysis to delineate the extent to which the entrepreneurial development training modules met the needs of the trainees revealed that though the training content and the training need coincided with respect to some areas, there were many areas that needed concerted attention. Moreover, the duration of coverage of topics in the different modules needed reorientation so that more time is allotted to subjects based of the training need.

The effectiveness of EDP trainings quantified using Training Effectiveness Score (TES) showed that the KVK EDP trainees perceived that the training output, quality of teaching and coverage of topics were effective. However, the physical facilities provided by the KVKs were perceived as not sufficient. The overall training effectiveness score of the EDP training programmes was worked out to be 79.45.Kruskal-Wallis test performed to compare the perceived effectiveness scores of EDP trainings showed that there was no significant difference among the KVKs in training effectiveness.

Age, educational status, land holding, annual income, extension contact, mass media exposure, employment gain, adoption of technology from training, credit support and entrepreneurial attributes of the trainees had a positive and significant correlation with training effectiveness. In order to categorize these influential variables into specific dimensions of training effectiveness Principal Component Analysis (PCA) analysis using covariance matrix was carried out. The results of PCA revealed that the entrepreneurial attributes of trainees, technology adoption and stable economic base of enterprise were the dimensions that could influence the training effectiveness in entrepreneurship development programs. Therefore, in order to improve the effectiveness of EDP trainings, the KVKs must devise strategies taking these factors into consideration.

The recommendations for improving the EDP trainings based on the study included the design and use of technology integrated online tools for effective training need assessment, integration of long term skill needs such as market analysis, supply chain and business management in the EDP module, design of management skill modules as integral part of all EDP training and induction of curriculum based Farm Business School (FBS) models in EDP trainings. Another suggestion included the use of specific entrepreneurial quality assessment scales in the selection of trainees and also providing trainees an opportunity to select a combination of training programmes to accumulate their portfolio of skills in entrepreneurship development and value chain management. PRAXIS model of experiential learning recommended for KVK- EDP trainings.