Effectiveness of Crop Advisory Services in Aurangabad District of Maharashtra in India

The project was undertaken to study the evaluation of effectiveness of crop advisory services and suggested measures for filling the gap in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra in India. The survey was carried out in 2010. The data was collected with the help of a specifically designed and pre-tested questionnaire. The project carried out in catchment area of advisory services has given substantial insight on the current status of different dimensions of advisory services running in Aurangabad and also recommends strategies to make advisory services accessible to all. The farmer's willingness to pay assumes a key role in determining the success of a cost-recovery strategy. During the study it was interesting to note that of all the 115 respondents 46.67% agreed that their critical need was supply of inputs followed by credit purchase on which the advisory services provider should focus. The dissemination channels were not utilized properly. The results of correlation study indicate that the recommendations by the advisory services and the results after advise have a positive correlation with increase in yield showing the effectiveness of these crop advisory services. The results of multivariate regression indicated that the cropping and harvesting method, credit access, input supply linkage, insurance, age, education and interaction with other farmers have the main role in showing the variations of attitude to adoption of the advisory services.