Development and Expert Evaluation of a Hindi Electronic Booklet on Indigenous Agricultural Knowledge in the Gird Region of Madhya Pradesh, India
Kapil Maran
Department of Agricultural Extension Education, CoA, RVSKVV, Gwalior, India.
Y. D. Mishra
Department of Agricultural Extension Education, RVSKVV, Gwailor, India.
Vikash Kumar
Department of Agricultural Extension Education, RVSKVV, Gwailor, India.
S. C. Shrivastava
Department of Agricultural Economics, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, RVSKVV Gwailor, India.
D. K. Paliwal
Department of Agronomy, RVSKVV, Gwailor, India.
Siddharth Namdeo *
Department of Agricultural Extension Education, RVSKVV, Gwailor, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Indigenous agricultural knowledge can inform locally relevant extension materials, but expert endorsement does not establish the effectiveness or safety of individual practices. This study developed a Hindi electronic booklet documenting indigenous agricultural and allied knowledge from the Gird region of Madhya Pradesh and described its expert evaluation. Practices from Bhind, Gwalior, Morena, Sheopur and Shivpuri districts were organised into seven content domains. A panel of 25 experts assessed the booklet using a three-point rating scale, and the reported reliability and content-validity indices were summarised descriptively. Mean ratings across the seven domains ranged from 2.87 to 2.95, with an overall arithmetic mean of 2.92 out of 3.00. Agronomic practices and livestock shelters received the highest ratings (2.95 each), whereas natural embankment practices received the lowest (2.87). The reported Spearman–Brown-adjusted split-half reliability coefficient was 0.90, and the arithmetic mean of the seven message-level content validity ratios was approximately 0.82. However, expert-level ratings, item-level essentiality counts and aggregation rules were unavailable, preventing independent reconstruction of these indices. Some practice-level acceptance percentages also lacked clearly specified denominators. The booklet received favourable descriptive expert ratings and offers a format for documenting regionally situated knowledge. Nevertheless, farmer comprehension, adoption, agronomic outcomes and practice safety were not evaluated. Further assessment is required before the documented practices can be presented as validated field recommendations.
Keywords: Indigenous technical knowledge, agricultural extension, digital advisory services, Hindi electronic booklet, expert assessment, content validity, Gird region