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The Agricultural Extension Contact in Bangladesh

Abu Zafar Mahmudul Haq
City University, Banani, Dhaka 1213, Bangladesh

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

The impact of agricultural extension contact on agricultural income has been conducted. The objectives of the study were to examine the actual benefits of agricultural extension services on productivity through an agricultural production function and if there are benefits for farmers to determine the type of farmers who benefited from the services. Fifty samples were collected from two sub districts of the Gazipur district in Bangladesh. The selection of the study sites and collection of the sample were done purposively. It is clarified from the study that extension services have significant contribution to raise agricultural income per unit of farm land. Results were derived through regression analysis. The results show that the contact coefficient of three times and above is higher (0.353) compared to the contact coefficient one and two times (0.234). It is observed that for a successful introduction of agricultural extension contacts in the country socio economic factors such as education of farmers, age and number of adult family members, ratio of agricultural income to total income should be taken into consideration.

Keywords: Agricultural income, Extension contact, Farmers, Regression.

Location:

Start Date: 00-08-2001

End Date: 00-09-2001

Program Area: Knowledge Management

Non-commodity: Data collection and collation

Objectives:

(1) To assess the actual benefits of agricultural extension services on productivity through an agricultural production function, and

(2) If there are benefits for farmers, to determine the types of farmers who are benefited from the services.

Methodology:

A field survey was conducted in the Gazipur district, located at 30 kilometers in the North-East of Dhaka, between August and September 2001. This area is an average farming district in the central and northern areas of the country regarding productivity, farm size and production conditions. Two areas (Sadar and Sreepur subdistricts) of Gazipur out of five sub districts were surveyed. A total of fifty farms were investigated through pre structured questionnaires. The selection of the two sub districts and sample collection were done purposively. Following is a brief explanation of the survey families. The average age of farm household head is 43.1 years, the number of years of schooling of farm household head is 5.5 years, the farm area is 1.4 ha, and the size of family is 7.2 and the number of adult family members is 2.2. As for the contact frequency with extension agents, the average is 0.8 times per year and only 18 families were contacted out of the surveyed families (36 percent). The contacts were particularly low with families whose heads have low education levels; families that had no contact at all formed the majority,

Source of Information: Agrárinformatika / Agricultural Informatics (2012) Vol. 3, No. 2: 29-36, ISSN 2061-862X

Article Link (Online Journal): http://www.oalib.com/paper/2406622#.Vu558-aeXIU

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

This research was aimed at clarifying the effects of agricultural extension services on improving farmers’ productivity, with the example of one district of Bangladesh, emphasizing the relevance of contact frequency between farmers and extension agents (workers of extension services and representative of farming blocks, who directly receive training from the extension workers and, sometimes along with them, train other farmers in turn). The results of the study can be summarized as follows: First, from the estimated results of the production function, it was clarified that the more the frequency of contacts between extension agents and farmers, the higher the productivity is. This clarifies that the extension services have positive effects in improving farm income. Second, by examining the factors determining the contacts between extension agents and farmers, a positive correlation was found with the education level, the share of the agricultural income in the total farmhouse income, and the number of adults in the farm household. On the other hand, the head of the farm household’s age is inversely proportional to the frequency of contacts with the extension agents. From these facts, it was clarified that the agricultural extension services do not work well enough for elder farmers, especially those with low education levels. Considering the overall estimations, it has been possible to ascertain that agricultural extension services positively contribute to increasing farmers’ income to some extent, but there is a necessity to develop the system toward more efficiency for elder farmers with low education levels, which is an issue that is subject for further studies.

Knowledge Management: Journal