Comparative effectiveness of agricultural advisory services rendered by public and private sectors in the Punjab, Pakistan

Abstract

Public and private extension sectors are meant to effectively disseminate agricultural technologies among farmers in order to improve the living standards of farmers through adoption of site specific and improved technologies. This study was conducted in 2018 to explore the effectiveness of Agricultural Advisory Service rendered by the public and private sectors in the Punjab province of Pakistan. Total 400 farmers selected from the two tehsils (sub-districts) of Multan District were interviewed through the face-to-face interview technique on a structured and pre-tested interview schedule. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyse the collected data. T-test was the key technique used to compare the two sectors. The results show that one-fourth (25.5%) of respondents had acquaintance with the Extension Field Staff (EFS) of the private sector as compared to 15.5% of respondents knowing about the public sector EFS by face only. Regarding contact, one-fifth (19.9%) of the respondents made a contact with the EFS of public sector twice a month while in contrast, more than half (53.1%) of respondents contacted EFS of private sector twice a month. The performance of the public sector (x̅=2.50±1.902) regarding the safe use of pesticides was comparatively better than private sector (x̅ =2.08±1.824). Farmers were more satisfied with the private sector in context of getting advisory services about harvesting of crops (x̅ =1.88±1.604) as compared to the public sector (x̅ =1.62±1.597). Study concluded that services provided by private EFS were comparatively effective as compared to public sector for many reasons. The study urges more development and institutionalization to the public sector in order to improve the performance of the public sector in best interest of farming communities.