Extent of Linkage among Scientists, Extension Personnel and Fish Farmers in Tripura, India

The present study was conducted during 2014-2015 in eight different districts of Tripura to highlight the existing linkage among researchers, extension personnel and fish farmers of the state. 28 Extension personnel including Fishery Officers of Department of Fisheries and Subject Matter Specialists fof Krishi Vigyan Kendras; 30 Researchers of ICAR, CAU and Tripura University and 120 farmers were randomly selected in different districts of the state and were interviewed for the said study. The study revealed that both the researchers and the extension personnel maintain linkage with the farmers mostly through group contact methods such as trainings, demonstrations and field visits. Majority of the researchers (93.33 %) maintained linkage with farmers through group meetings followed by Training programmes (90%), Demonstration (80%), Field Visits (73.33%), Field Trials (66.67 %) and Workshop (60%). 89.28 per cent of the extension personnel contacted the farmers through trainings, 53.57 per cent contacted through field visits and another 42.86 per cent interacted with farmers through demonstrations. Majority of the extension personnel (96.42%) maintained linkage with the researchers through training programmes followed by group meetings (92.86%), workshops (85.71%) and seminars/symposiums (64.28%). It was observed that experience of researchers with farmers showed positive and significant correlation with use of radio and home visits; experience of extension personnel with researchers showed positive and significant correlation with use of telephone and home visits; and experience of extension personnel with famers showed positive and significant correlation with use of radio and television.