Analyzing Farmers’ Perceived Information Need and its Mitigation by Extension and Advisory Service (EAS) Providers in Pluralistic System

Agriculture is one vital component of national growth. Access to information related to agriculture is crucial for the betterment of farmers. A complex web of connections among Extension and Advisory Service (EAS) providers mitigates the farmers' diverse information needs. Many EAS providers, working alone or in tandem, facilitate this information need in a pluralistic extension scenario. This study attempted to clarify farmers' information needs and provide a comparative evaluation of EAS providers' ability to mitigate those needs. The research was carried out in the Birbhum, Jalpaiguri, and Nadia districts in West Bengal. Four Extension and Advisory Service providers, namely, ATMA & Dept of Agriculture, KVK, Input Dealer, and FPC, from each district were compared based on the farmers' preferences regarding the specific information that each farmer needed. Twenty farmers for each extension advisory service provider, totaling Eighty from every district, and ultimately, two hundred and forty respondents from three study districts were examined. The study revealed that information about the Varietal Aspects, Government welfare schemes, Crop Production Techniques, and Market information are the most sought needs. The farmer's Extent of Needs is Multiplied by the percentage of farmers choosing any EAS for the Information Need, to generate a Magnitude Score, and after summing them, a Need Mitigation Score for all the EAS Providers is generated. Based on this score, FPCs emerged as the best need mitigator, followed by ATMA & DoA, KVK, and Input Dealer in descending order.