PARTICIPATION OF COTTON GROWERS IN EXTENSION ACTIVITIES RENDERED BY THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR EXTENSION IN PUNJAB, PAKISTAN

The agricultural extension programs either rendered by the public sector or private sector are meant to serve the farmers. But, until the farmers do not participate in these programs, the effectiveness can not be guaranteed. This study attempted to explore the level of participation of the farmers in different extension programs and what was the effectiveness of this participation for the participating farmers. The findings indicate that the majority of farmers were poorly educated, small land holders, owners of their lands and crop farming was their key income source. Thus, participating in the extension programs would have benefited them extensively. Among many of the implemented extension programs, the farmers had highest participation in the programs such as Integrated Pest Management (IPM), adoption of sustainable agriculture, clean cotton campaign, soil surveys to improve soil health, weather forecasting and resource conservation campaigns. Regarding perceived effectiveness, the participation was highly effective for participation in distribution of farm machinery, Integrated Pest Management (IPM), resources conservation campaigns, distribution of inputs and demonstration plots. This indicates a slight difference in level of participation in program and effectiveness of participation. This is a notion that extension advisory service providers need to think about the level of participation of farmers and perceived effectiveness in some key programs such as adoption of sustainable agriculture and clean cotton campaign. This study urge that more planning is required in order to persuade farmers to participate in the extension programs and activities.