Author: Mumtaz Ali Baloch
AIT Library Call Number: AIT Diss. no.RD-14-04
Year: 2014
Academic Program: Regional and Rural Development Planning (RRDP)
Type: Thesis (Ph.D.) – Asian Institute of Technology, 2014
Examination Committee: Gopal B. Thapa (Chairperson); Murari Suvedi, Ganesh P. Shivakoti, Soparth Pongquan(Examination Committee Members)
Abstract: The Government of Pakistan has adopted a policy of providing agricultural extension services to promote agricultural production by disseminating appropriate knowledge and technologies to farmers. Consistent with this national policy, farmers in Balochistan have been provided with extension services by the provincial Department of Agriculture through their extension officials working with the District of Agricultural Extension Department. This study was carried out to determine the effectiveness of extension services as reflected in date palm farmers‘ access to the extension services, their use of the knowledge and technologies provided by extension officials, and the effect of extension services on date palm yield. This study also assessed the national agricultural extension policy and extension delivery mechanism in Balochistan. The required information was collected from a questionnaire survey covering 200 date palm farm households, group discussions, and surveys of key informants in the Panjgur District of Balochistan. Factors influencing the access to extensions services and use of knowledge/technology received from extension officials were analyzed using logistic regression. Determinants of date palm yield, including extension-related determinants, were analyzed using multivariate linear regression. The findings of the study found inconsistency between the agricultural extension policy and its actual practice. Contrary to the policy of providing extension following the participatory approach, the extension in the study area was provided through the age-old top-down approach, with particular field-level extension officials not having much knowledge with regard to addressing date palm specific production problems. Instead of extension officials routinely visiting farmers, as per the principle of participatory extensio
Scholarship Donor(s): University of Balochistan Quetta, Pakistan; Asian Institute of Technology Fellowship
Note: A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Regional and Rural Development Planning
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