A brief description of some of the extension methods which are commonly used by extension workers is given below.
Farm & home visits. Farm & home visits constitute the direct or face-to-face contact by an extension worker with the farmer or the members of his family. During these visits, information is exchanged or discussed. The visits may be to get acquainted with the problems of the farmers, or to organisational purposes. Such visits provide an opportunity for a two-way communication.
Result demonstration. Result demonstration is an educational test to prove the advantages of recommended practices & to demonstrate their applicability to the local condition. It is conducted by a farmer under the direct supervision of an extension worker. It is designed to teach others, in addition to the person who conducts the demonstration. It helps the farmers to learn by seeing & doing. This method can be used to show the supoeriority of practices, such as the use of fertilisers, insecticides & pesticides & high yielding varieties of seeds.
Method demonstration. It is used to show the technique of doing things or carrying out new practices, e.g. preparing a nursery-bed, treating seed with insecticides & fungicides, line-sowing, taking a soil sample, grafting fruit trees, etc. This method is usually used for groups of people.
National demonstrations. National demonstrations are the "first-line demonstrations," conducted by researchers on the farmers' fields to show how production can be increased per unit of area & per unit of time. These demonstrations usually include the system of multiple cropping & the use of high-yielding varieties, along with the best package of practices. They were first initiated on a modest scale in 1965 & have now become a part of the agricultural production programme in the country.
Group discussions. all the farmers cannot be contacted by extension workers individually because of their large number. It is convenient & feasible to contact them in groups. This method is commonly known as group discussion. It is used to encourage & stimulate the people to learn more about the problems that concern the community through discussion. It is a good method of involving the local people in developing local leadership & in deciding on a plan of action in a democratic way.
Exhibitions. An exhibition is a systematic display of information, actual specimens, models, posters, photographs, and charts, etc in a logical sequence. It is organised for arousing the interest of the visitors in the things displayed. It is one of the best media for reaching a large number of people, especially illiterate & semi-illiterate people. Exhibitions are used for a wide range of topics, such as planning a model village, demonstrating improved irrigation practices, soil conservation methods, showing high-yielding varieties of seeds & plants, new agricultural implements & the best products of vilage industries.
General meetings. These are usually held for passing on certain information to the people for future action. Extension workers give lectures to the people on certain pre-selected items of work, such as the celebration of Van mahotsav, a national festival.
Campaigns. Campaigns are used to focus the attention of the people on a particular problem, e.g. rat control, village sanitation & plant protection, the production of rabi crops & family planning. Through this method, the maximum number of farmers can be reached in the shortest possible time. It builds up community confidence & involves the people emotionally in a programme.
Tours & field days. Conducted tours for farmers are used to convince them & to provide them with an opportunity of seeing the results of new practices, demonstration skills, new implements etc. & to give them an idea regarding the suitability & application of these things in their own area. Such tours may also be arranged to enable the rural people to visit places & institutions connected with the problems of rural life, such as research institutions, training institutions, agricultural universities, model vilages, areas of advanced developments, leading private farms, exhibitions, & agricultural & cattle fairs.
Printed matter(literature). Newspapers, magazines, bulletins,leaflets, folders, pamphlets & wall news-sheets are another set of mass media for communicating information to a large number of literate people. They are used for communicating general & specific information on a programme of technology or a practice.Small folders, leaflets & pamphlets are used to give specific recommendations about a practice, such as the use of fertilisers, vegetable cultivation, green-manuring & the growing of individual crops, e.g. wheat, barley, gram & sugarcane.
Radio. It is a mass medium of communication & can reach a large number of people at any given time involving the least expense. Extension workers use the radio for communicating information on new methods & techniques, giving timely information about the control of croppests & diseases, weather, market news, etc. For this purpose, talks, group discussions, folk-songs, dialogues & dramas are usually organised. There are 38 stations of All-India Radio broadcasting regular rural programmes.
Television It is one of the most powerful media of communication. It has come into vogue only in the recent years. It combines both audio & visual impact & is very suitable for the dissemination of agricultural information. It is more useful in teaching how to do a specific job.
A beginning has ben made in India for using this medium for development programmes since 1967, & it is expected that its use will become more extensive in the coming years.
Motion-pictures(movies). Movies are an effective tool for arousing interest among the people, because they involve seeing, hearing, & action. They are the most suitable medium for drawing bigger audience. a film show can be followed by a discussion with the villagers.