MSc

The study entitled “ Effectiveness of agriclinics and agribusiness training programme in Kerala” was undertaken “to evaluate the training content and methodology of the agriclinics and agribusiness training programme organized in Kerala by Kerala Agricultural University, to analyse the trainees profile, to assess the establishment of agriclinics and agribusiness centres by the trainees, to study the constraints, if any, faced by the trainees in establishing the centres and to suggest suitable measures to streamline the training and the scheme on agriclinics and agribusiness.”
The study was carried out in Kerala state. Sixty trainees of agriclinics and agribusiness training programme organized by Kerala Agricultural University were selected randomly and they were the major category of respondents of the study. 30 trainers of the above said training programme were also selected randomly to identify the perception of trainers regarding the relevancy of the content of the training programme. Data were collected through mailed questionnaire.
Majority of the trainees selected for the training programme were young (92 per cent), male (85 per cent), unmarried (73 per cent), agricultural graduates (82 per cent) having no income. Most of the trainees had more positive attitude towards self employment (73 per cent), more self confidence (55 per cent) and high information seeking behaviour (67 per cent). The study revealed that field trips, study tour, talks by successful entrepreneurs were the most effective methods as perceived by the trainee respondents. The study also indicated that most of the trainers selected for agriclinics and agribusiness training programme were effective.
The results showed that the topics such as “Agribusiness development, analysis of opportunities; Role of IT in Agribusiness; Scope and local applications of e-Commerce; Market planning and market competition; Brands, packaging, product features; Advertising and its impact; Sales promotion activities; Problems and prospects of pesticides marketing; Commercial production of cut flowers and dry flowers; Bio process in value addition on agro produce; Composting techniques; Schemes of the National Horticulture Board; Crop and animal insurance – Implications for agribusiness; Case Study: ABARD SAIU on Medicinal Plants; Importance of marketing in the context of globalisation and privatization and What do bankers expect from entrepreneurs? were found to be the most useful topics for the trainees as all the respondents had rated these topics as useful. In trainers view, emphasis was given on areas like marketing, small business and orientation on specific enterprises. The study shows that there were five types of business started by the trainees such as plant nursery, acquarium, consultancies, hatchery and commercial cultivation of crops. Among sixty trainee respondents, only nine trainees had started agriclinic and agribusiness centres.
The study revealed that the factors such as attitude towards self-employment, entrepreneurial ability and self confidence were found to influence the trainees in establishing agriclinic and agribusiness centres. The factors such as attitude towards self employment, decision making ability and information seeking behaviour were found to be significant between male and female respondents. It is clear from the analysis that there is significant relationship between the factors viz., entrepreneurial ability and decision making ability with the perception of trainees about trainers effectiveness and the utility of the content of the training programme. There is significant relationship between attitude towards self employment with the perception of trainees about the effectiveness of training methods used in the training programme. The most important constraint faced by the trainees in establishing agriclinic and agribusiness units was the availability of credit facilities on time followed by cumbersome process in getting loan sanctioned and availability of matching grant for availing credit. It can be concluded that most of the constraints experienced by the trainees were financial in nature.