Effectiveness of Group Approach in Disseminating Farm Information to the Farmers

The study was conducted to identify effectiveness of group approach in disseminating farm information. The study also attempted to explore the relationship between nine selected characteristics of the farmers and their opinion on effectiveness of Agricultural Diversification and Intensification Project (ADIP) under the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Ghatail upazila of Tangail district. One hundred respondents, fifty from Group Farmers (GF) and fifty from Non-Group Farmers (NGF) were selected following random sampling procedure. Most of the GF received farm information from their weekly meeting or group-led extension activities whereas 52% NGF did not receive any information from GF and 30% farmers considered the information as ‘supply-led rather than demand-led. A highly significant number of GF (90%) attended in weekly meeting and shared information with absent members. Although 66% farmers made satisfactory opinions on effectiveness of group approach, a large proportion (42%) of the NGF did not consider group approach as an effective method of extension. The findings further showed that education, income, agricultural knowledge, innovativeness, group participation and communication exposure were correlated with the opinion of farmers on effectiveness of group approach in the dissemination of farm information. The GF members were able to take advantages from group meetings efficiently. Commitment of SAAO’s work, need-based information and management aspects of group were provided as major suggestions to improve the existing performance of GF in transferring farm information.