TRAINING NEEDS OF AGRICULTURAL OFFICERS REGARDING MECHANIZED FARMING IN PUNJAB, PAKISTAN

The purpose of the study was to identify and prioritize the training needs of agricultural extension agents- Punjab. Pakistan is an agricultural country. However, agricultural production of the country is much lower than that of many other countries. This is an era of information wave, which requires the generation, dissemination, and use of information rapidly. The current technological developments will have a big impact on the future direction of extension and rural development programs realizing the abruptness of the new technologies, Government of Pakistan accorded a very high priority to this sector. For this purpose, they have been asked to under devolution of power plan 2001. That is why the present study has been designed which represents a descriptive survey research. Out of 341 agricultural officers, a random sample of 181 was taken. The panel of experts established face and content validity of research instrument. The Cronbach’s alpha calculated for Farm Machinery (0.91). The questionnaire was mailed to the respondents. Data were analyzed by SPSS “Statistical Package for Social Sciences”. The discrepancy values based on the mean perceptions of Agriculture officers (AOs) were positive values for all five competencies ranging from lowest value 0.86 to highest value 1.51. It means that AOs needed training in all five competencies of Farm Machinery.