International Journal of Agriculture Extension and Social Development

author(s)
Harisha N, B Mukunda Rao, T Gopi Krishna, K Umadevi and SK Nafeez Umar

abstract
Sericulture is a primary income source for over 125,000 farmers in Karnataka, and TSCs significantly contribute to their well-being. TSCs motivate farmers to adopt scientific technologies for mulberry cultivation and silkworm rearing, evidenced by increased production, productivity, and quality of mulberry and cocoons. Studying the impact of TSCs can reveal both direct and indirect changes perceived by farmers and their attitudes towards TSC activities. These findings can refine and reform extension methodologies, assessing the efficacy of TSC personnel by measuring knowledge and adoption rates among sericulture farmers. The study, conducted from 2018 to 2021 in Karnataka, India, utilized an ex-post-facto research design, deemed suitable as the phenomena under investigation had already occurred. The Ramanagara and Mandya districts were chosen due to their high concentration of Technical Service Centres (TSCs) in the Bangalore and Mysore divisions, respectively. Specifically, Mandya, Malavalli, and K.R. Pet taluks from Mandya district, and Ramanagara, Channapatna, and Kanakapura taluks from Ramanagara district, were purposively selected based on having the highest number of TSCs in each district. From these taluks, four TSCs per taluk were chosen, resulting in a total of 24 TSCs for the study. Ten sericulture farmers from each TSC were selected through random sampling, totalling 240 participants. Data collection was carried out using a well-structured interview schedule, and statistical tools such as frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation were employed for data analysis. The impact of TSCs on sericulture beneficiary farmers was measured in terms of direct and indirect changes as perceived by the farmers. The study found that, more than two fifth (40.84%) of the sericulture farmers belonged to medium direct changes succeeded by high (32.50%) and low direct changes categories (26.66%). More than half (51.25%) of the sericulture farmers had high income followed, due to intervention of TSCs. After interventions of TSC, more than half (52.92%) of the sericulture farmers belonged to medium sericulture mechanization category. Nearly half (47.08%) of the sericulture farmers belonged to medium indirect changes category succeeded by high (31.67%) and low medium indirect changes category (21.25%).