Use of agricultural information by fertilizer and pesticide dealers in relation to their socio-economic parameters: A study in Coochbehar District

The source of agriculture information is a crucial point for farmers. They are getting agriculture information from variety of sources. Among these sources fertilizer and pesticide dealers play an important role in dissemination of information about agriculture practices to the farmers. They are in close contact with farmers. Dealers also diagnose the plants, pests and diseases and suggest some pesticide. But the questions arise as from which sources they gather these informations and disseminate it to the farmers. On the basis of above statement Coochbehar Krishi Vigyan Kendra organized an awareness programme of fertilizer and pesticide dealers of Coochbehar district in eastern zone of India to know the uses of information about agricultural practices with respect to their socio-economic variables. The study was conducted during February, 2016. Survey method was used to get responses of participants. Trainees available at the time of awareness programme were considered as respondents. Semi-structure interview schedule was used for collection of data. The sample size for the study was 50. The dependent variable of this study was source of information and independent variables were age, occupation, education, land holding, religion, family members and number of years associated with their occupation. The descriptive statistics like frequency, percentage and other statistical tools were used for the analysis of data.