A SCALE TO MEASURE PERCEPTION OF FARMERS ABOUT AGRITECH STARTUP- FARMER PRODUCER ORGANIZATION INTEGRATION FOR IMPROVED EXTENSION ADVISORY SERVICES

Abstract

To measure the perception of farmers about Agri-Tech startups - Farmer Producer Organization (FPO) integration for improved Extension Advisory Services a scale was developed with Likert’s summated rating technique. A list of 45 items regarding Agri-Tech startups - Farmer Producer Organization (FPO) integration was sent to 200 experts for their relevancy using google forms and personal follow up. Based on 75 expert’s ratings, the relevancy percentage (RP), Relevancy Weightage (RW) and Mean Relevancy Scores (MRS) were estimated. 37 items with RP > 70, RW > 0.70 and overall MRS > 2.31 were considered for item analysis. These items were administrated to 60 farmers for item analysis and items with ‘t’ value equal or greater than 1.75 were selected and those with ‘t’ value below 1.75 were rejected. Out of 37 statements, 28 statements were retained on the final scale through t-test item analysis. The Cronbach’s alpha value was 0.77 and Guttman split half method was 0.72 which showed high reliability. The Pearson’s product moment correlation coefficient calculated 0.68. The scales demonstrated precision and consistency, as evidenced by their validity and reliability measures. The scale developed to measure perception of farmers about Agri-Tech startups - Farmer Producer Organization (FPO) integration for improved Extension Advisory Services is deemed reliable and can be utilized by researchers in similar studies.