CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE PERCEPTIONS OF STAKEHOLDERS REGARDING COMMERCIALIZATION OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION SERVICES IN THE PUNJAB, PAKISTAN: FUTURE IMPLICATIONS

Abstract

Globally, public sector extension has been under severe criticism for not performing effectively and efficiently and in case of Pakistan the situation is not different. Since independence of the country, several extension approaches and models have been introduced to enhance agricultural production and improve farm income with ultimate objective of raising living standard of rural people but these could not met the required targets and were discarded with the passage of time. Privatization of extension services changes the ownership from public to private sector which is also facing so many other challenges. In the situation when the economy of the country is sinking and public sector extension is facing financial constraints, commercialization of extension services is being suggested an alternate option. Keeping in view the above facts, present study was planned to explore and critically analyze the commercialization of agricultural extension service. The study was conducted in purposively selected one district i.e. Sargodha from citrus growing areas in the Punjab. Multistage sampling technique was used for data collection. At the first stage one district (district Sargodha) was selected purposively, at the second stage four tehsils (Silanwali, Kot Momin, Sargodha and Bhalwal) were selected randomly. As it was extremely expensive to interview all the units of the population. So, keeping in view the limitations of time and financial resources, a sample of 400 (100 from each tehsil) was drawn from the entire population by using Fitz-gibbon and Morris (1987) table. The data was analyzed by using computer software i.e. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). It was found that less than half of the respondents had knowledge about commercialization of agricultural extension services. The results showed that more than one-third of the respondents were willing to pay for advisory services. It was concluded that among all the strengths of commercialization it would lead higher farm output was ranked at 1st position. Commercialization would lead to enhance financial burden on farmers was ranked at 1st position among all the weaknesses in the way of commercialization according to the response of farmers. It was found that commercialization would only be acceptable when these services will be cost effective. It was found that inadequate government guarantees, regulations and control over extension service providers and abuses were one of the major potential constraints identified by the respondents. Among different strategies for reforming of agricultural extension services, structural issue was found major potential constraint among all other obstacles that may found in the way of commercialization. Policy, governance and legal constraints were also found other potential threats in the way of commercialization respectively.