A Four-level Agropreneurship Training Evaluation Model For Rural Communities

The economy of rural communities is commonly associated with agriculture. Hence, many
farming initiatives are organised by government agencies to enhance the socioeconomic status of
rural communities, wherein raising the income and standard of living in the Bottom 40 group (B40)
is the primary objective of most programmes. This paper presents a robust framework based on
the entrepreneurship training courses called the Agropreneurship Community Training Programme
(ACTP) conducted by the Northern Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA) and Yayasan
Kemajuan Sosial Malaysia (YKSM). The study assessed the effectiveness of ACTP based on the
four-level training model initiated by Kirkpatrick (1959), which is composed of reaction, learning,
behaviour and result. The assessment involved 200 participants in Bagan Serai, Perak. A four-level
training framework model was developed based on the categorisation derived from factor analysis.
A higher mean value for each assessment level and increments to the respondent’s income indicated
the effectiveness of the programme. Evidently, the model appears to be suitable for assessing rural
agropreneur training, and future work may apply a similar model in the design and delivery of
entrepreneurship curriculums.