Views of Extension Personnel on Extension Methods and Transition to Private Extension: The Case of Isparta Province

Authors
H. Celik Ates
Z. Gokce Cakal
Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, Suleyman Demirel University, Isparta, Turkey.
Abstract
Criticism of public extension services has resulted in various countries seeking alternative approaches for provision of these services. In all these approaches, extension personnel are the key factors to the success of the implementation. Today, agricultural extension services in Turkey bear the responsibility of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock. A number of non-public extension activities, on a very small scale, and in limited regions are being administered by various entities. The present study aims at determining the extension methods used by extension personnel in practice along with their views and evaluations of extension systems (public-private). A number of 103 extension personnel were contacted and then included in the survey. Absolute and proportional distribution, independence test (Chi-square) and Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) were employed to analyze data obtained from the received questionnaires. It was observed that mostly individual and group extension methods were used, with young personnel preferring the individual method, while the others preferring the group model. Although 54.37% of the extension personnel in Isparta believed that extension services should be privatized, 32.14% were of the belief that extension should continue as a public service.

Keywords

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Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology
Volume 16, Issue 7
November and December 2014
Pages 1529-1541