ASSESSMENT OF STRESS AMONG THE AGRICULTURE OFFICERS IN TAMIL NADU

Stress is an omnipotent and omnipresent in all the walks of the life. Since stress is inevitable and invincible, only option left out is managing the stress. This study conducted among the agricultural officers working in the State Department of Agriculture, Government of Tamil Nadu under various position and responsibility to understand their ability to manage the stress. All the agricultural officers participated in the training program organised by the STAMIN (State Agricultural Extension Management Institute), Kudumiyanmalai were the respondents. Total of 113 agricultural officers (ADA-51, AO-22. DyAO- 40) were asked to fill the pretested and semi structured questionnaire. The primary objectives of the study are to measure the level of stress among the Agricultural Officers in Tamil Nadu and to analyze factors of stress among the employees. The study revealed that stress level is found across the all the age group, gender and position. It also found that among the Agricultural Officer (AO) and Assistant Director of Agriculture (ADA) experience is the main factor which increasing officer’s ability to manage the stress. But ironically among the Deputy Agricultural Officer (DyAO) experience is not positively contributed towards their ability to manage the stress. Thus, it concluded that experience alone may not help to cope with stress, but it is education and position holds the key. The results of the study also showed that there was a significant difference between ADA & DYAO and AO & ADA and there was a no significant difference betweenand AO & DYAO on ability to handle the stress.