A Study of the Extension competencies of the Consulting Companies' Agricultural Experts (as Private Agricultural Extension Agents) (A Case of Study: Marvdasht, Iran)

The State Agricultural Extension System (SAES) due to serious limitations of finance, equipment and staff could not meet all the expectation of the farmers. Use of unemployed young graduates' services as consultant, farm manager or farm supervisor has been considered as a solution to the problem and as an alternative, in recent years. This research was aimed at an evaluation of the extension competencies of agricultural experts as Private Agricultural Extension Agents (PAEA) in consulting companies of Marvdasht, Iran. It was a survey research in which questionnaire was utilized as the research instrument. The census population was comprised of the agricultural experts in all the13 agricultural consulting companies, members of “Iranian Agriculture and Natural Resources Engineering Organization”. No sampling method was needed, with all the experts being included in data gathering. Using SPSS (v16), data were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistic methods. According to the findings, among the “technical skills”, the topics of sustainable development indigenous knowledge and proper practices in wheat farming; from among the “vocational skills”, skill of assessing the educational needs; and from among the “personality traits”, responsibility, self-esteem, leadership and management; and finally from among “perception traits”, skill in instant reply, general information regarding farming status in the area and also continuous supervision of the ongoing activities were recognized as the most necessary competencies as from the subjects’ points of view.