Socio-professional dimensions of fisheries extension professionals in tripura: A descriptive study

Abstract

Fisheries extension professionals have been playing an important role in expanding the scientific fish culture practices in Tripura towards meeting up the growing demand for food fishes. In this perspective, it is important to study their profiles which can certainly be helpful in devising effective professional management strategies. Thus, the present study was conducted in two purposively selected districts of Tripura i.e. West Tripura and Unakoti to find out the socio-personal vis-avis professional profiles across different categories of fisheries extension professionals. Structured interview schedule was administered to the respondents and results revealed that majority of the respondents were male (84.14%) and had an educational qualification of B.Sc. (25.74%) and 27.59 per cent of the Fishery Officers had Bachelor of Fisheries Science (B.F.Sc.) qualification, for whom it was the desired entry-level qualification. Family size of the respondents was 3.93 (SE ±0.14). 11.02 per cent of the respondents had a joint type of family structure, while 89.98 per cent had nuclear families. Majority of them always (49.41%) participated in different associations (73.56%). Among different social media platforms, WhatsApp (87.18%) was found to be accessed by majorities followed by Gmail (66.92%) and Facebook (46.58%) with an average duration ofusage of 2.39 hours per day. As part of the professional profile of the respondents, majorities were posted in close proximity to their residence and had been ‘directly’ recruited (59.77%). On an average, 17.84 fish farmers were attended by an individual respondent per day. 95 per cent of them reported that they did not avail any opportunity to pursue higher studies but 89.74 per cent had undergone in-service training programmes. The average service duration of the respondents was found to be 21.16 years but majority of them (95.52%) had not received any recognition during their service period.