Attitudes of Vegetable Farmers Towards Public Agricultural Extension Services

Abstract

Among vegetable farmers in Jordan, there are conflicting attitudes towards the extension activities provided by the public sector. Some farmers accept and adopt the recommendations of these activities; on the other hand, some people are not satisfied and consider these activities a waste of time for both the farmers and the government. This situation has serious impacts on the quality, duration and efficiency of the extension activities provided by government related agencies. Also, the situation will end in providing low-quality agricultural extension services to the farmers or providing these services in a non-productive manner. The actual attitudes of vegetable farmers towards Public Agricultural Extension Services (PAES) in the Dear Alla Area of Jordan were investigated in this study. A total of 80 vegetable farmers were selected for the study. A questionnaire consisting of two main parts was used for data collection; the first part was related to personal and socio-economic characteristics of the sample individuals. The second part was related to extension activities. A five-point Likert-type scale was used as an instrument to gather primary data. The farmers rated their attitudes toward Public Agricultural Extension Services (PAES) through 10 statements related carefully to the Public Agricultural Extension Services. Data analysis was done in two sections, consisting of data description and data inferential analysis. The results of the study revealed that the farmers’ overall attitude towards the public agricultural extension activities was negative. The farmers’ attitudes according to age, experience, educational level and frequency and type of contact with public extension services were also negative. The negative attitude of the participant farmers towards the Public Agricultural Extension Services means that the farmers were not satisfied with these services. Identifying the sources and types of public extension programs, the provision of legal and policy framework, farmer’ participation, the determination of public extension functions, providing skilled manpower and networking and enhancing the capabilities of public extension service providers may aid in changing the farmers’ attitudes towards the Public agricultural extension services to be positive.