Abstract: In the post green revolution era, application of chemical pesticides in agriculture increased tremendously resulting in problems like pest resurgence, resistance and environmental pollution. Hence, in order to reduce the application of chemical pesticides, importance of Bio-control agents and Bio-pesticides rises significantly. Village Level Extension Workers (VLEWs) are the grass-root level extension functionaries working with the farmers. Therefore, it was imperative to measure the knowledge level of the VLEWs on Bio-pesticides and Bio-control agent in order to prioritize their training requirements on the subject. Accordingly, a study was conducted in Barpeta district of Assam with 80 numbers of VLEWs to measure the level of knowledge on Bio-pesticide and Bio-control agent. Four different aspects viz. Biological control, Botanical pesticide, Commercial formulations and Parasitoids were selected to measure the knowledge level of the VLEWs. A total of 20 questions were formulated under the above mentioned four aspects. A knowledge test was designed with a two point scale i.e. 1 for correct and 0 (zero) for incorrect answer. Frequency distribution of level of knowledge of VLEWs on Bio-pesticide and Bio-control agent showed that majority (81.25%) of the respondents’ possessed correct knowledge on the “Active chemical component of neem based pesticide”. On the other hand, only 6.25 % respondents’ possessed correct knowledge on three aspects viz. microbial pesticides used against soft bodies’ insects, most active part of the neem tree as insecticide and commercial formulation of neem based bio-pesticide. Distribution of VLEWs on level of Knowledge revealed that majority (60.50%) of the respondents had moderate level of knowledge, followed by 18.75 % with high level of knowledge on Bio-pesticide and Bio-control agents.

Keywords: Level of Knowledge, Bio-pesticide and Bio-control Agent

| DOI: 10.17148/IARJSET.2019.61211