Capability Enhancement of Agricultural Extension Personnel through ICT Interventions and its Economic Impact in Bangladesh

Abstract

"In this paper, we evaluated the performance of various ICT interventions to empower agricultural extension personnel, especially the Sub Assistant Agriculture Officer (SAAO) and Upazila Agriculture Officer (UAO), the major stakeholders in Bangladesh’s existing agricultural extension system. It is usually challenging for extension staff to keep track of their services and get up-to-date agricultural knowledge in developing nations due to the enormous geographical area and quantity of farmers and insufficient training and monitoring. Different ICT applications and tools, such as online and offline agricultural consultation services applications, a digital diary for recording the daily activities of the SAAOs, a monitoring system for the UAOs, and audiovisual materials have been developed to support the extension people. The evaluation was done after collecting data from Focus Group Discussions (FGD), Key Informant Interviews (KII), surveys, and server-side data processing. This study revealed that ICT applications have increased the knowledge base, efficiency, confidence level, and acceptance of the SAAOs and improved the financial aspects of the agriculture extension services. Thanks to ICT interventions, farmers receive timely and quality services from SAAO, leading to increased crop production and a better lifestyle for farmers."