An Investigation of Farmers’ Attitude towards Privatization of Agricultural Extension Services (A Case Study of Shirgah District, Mazandaran Province)

The main purpose of this research was to investigate farmer’s attitude towards privatization of agricultural extension in Shirgah district , Mazandaran Province. The statistical population consisted of 15300 farmers who inhabited as residents in 54 villages. Using Stratified Proportional Random Sampling, 150 farmers (through Cochran Formula) were selected. The study revealed that 84% of farmers had either positive or partly positive attitude towards efficiency of private extension. Meanwhile, farmers with higher ages and with higher experiences in agriculture as well as farmers who had more acquaintance with extension services, had negative attitudes towards privatization of agricultural extension. Results of priority necessary preconditions to privatization of agricultural extension indicated that farmers attached the highest priority to establishing and integrating of a regulation framework to supervise and control privatization extension sector. The analytical correlation results showed that there were positive and significant correlations observed between farmer’s attitude towards privatization of agricultural extension with the variables of level of education, average income, extent of irrigated lands, the rate of reference to agricultural service centers, attitude towards privatization of agricultural extension efficiency and the level of mechanization, while there existed negative and significant correlations with the variables of age, and cognitive experience of the agricultural extension services. Also the most important variables affecting farmer’s attitude towards privatization of agricultural extension included average income of farmers, familiarity with public extension services as well as the level of education.