Core Skills and Competencies Essential for Agricultural Extension Workers to Meet Present Day Challenges

Agricultural extension contributes significantly for improving the welfare of farmers and others living in rural areas. Extension advisory services and programs strengthen the farmer’s capacity to innovate by facilitating farmers to access latest agricultural knowledge and adoption. The extension workers, therefore, not only advices farming families but also motivate them to use improved agricultural implements and adopt the modern agricultural technologies according to their socioeconomic status. The success of extension workers depends on the possession of skills and experiences gained in executing need based programs effectively. Hence, an attempt has been made in this study to assess level of importance of core competencies and skills required by extension workers to perform their job effectively. Mean index scores were calculated for each individual skills listed under twelve broad areas of skills and competencies selected for the study. The results revealed that, soft skills were ranked first followed by communication skills. Organizing/implementing agricultural development program, team building skills, formation and development of farmer organization and facilitation skills, use of modern communication methods and AV aids, use of computer applications, preparation of digital schedule/ questionnaire, knowledge on agricultural insurance policies and procedures, problem solving skills, proficiency on subject matter concepts, cultural intelligence, business planning and self-motivation are the individual skills ranked first respectively on the listed twelve broad areas of skills and competencies. Based on the findings of the study, it is recommended that the extension workers are required to be equipped with these skills during the undergraduate and postgraduate level itself by designing and reorienting the curriculum and enhance the competence of the agricultural graduates along with upgrading the skills of extension workers.