Profile Characteristics of Extension Personnel and their Relationship with Utilization of a State Agricultural University’s Digital Advisory Portal

DOI: 10.22161/ijeab.115.4

Abstract:
State agricultural universities (SAUs) in India were early adopters of web-based agricultural advisory portals, and understanding what drives their continued use by front-line extension personnel remains important as the country scales up the Digital Agriculture Mission and its AgriStack farmer-database ecosystem. This study examined the profile characteristics of extension personnel and their relationship with utilization of the TNAU Agritech Portal, one of the pioneering State Agricultural University e-extension platforms in India. An ex-post facto design was adopted among 60 purposively selected Assistant/Deputy Directors and Agricultural/Horticultural Officers drawn from all 12 blocks of Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu. Data were collected using a pre-tested interview schedule and analysed through percentage analysis, simple correlation and multiple regression. Majority of the respondents were middle-to-old aged graduates with more than fifteen years of service and medium job satisfaction. Training undergone, attitude towards e-media, awareness of agricultural websites, internet usage and portal credibility showed positive and significant correlation with utilization, whereas experience in job showed a significant negative association. The twelve profile characteristics together explained 45.30 per cent of the variance in utilization. The findings identify capacity building and content credibility as priority levers for portal utilization and offer baseline evidence useful for designing the next generation of digital advisory platforms.

Keywords:
Digital extension, e-Governance, ICT, Utilization pattern, Extension personnel, Agricultural advisory portal, Profile characteristics

Article Info:
Received: 10 Aug 2026; Received in revised form: 08 Sep 2026; Accepted: 13 Sep 2026; Available online: 20 Sep 2026

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