Abstract:
Agricultural Extension is one of the major sub sectors of the agricultural sector which
has been given major concern by governments, international funding agencies such as
FAO, IFAD, ADB and World Bank and other donor agencies mainly due to high cost
incurred in agricultural extension programs. In the mean time most of the
governments both in the developing and developed world has been pruning funds for
the extension services since 1990s. The situation of the public extension service has
been deteriorating due to this reason. Therefore the structural and financial
adjustments in the extension system have been demanded. In this climate the experts
in the extension field have identified privatisation and commercialisation of
agricultural extension as an important alternative.
Before implementing commercialisation approach, it is necessary to know the
attitudes of the farmers who are the major participants in agricultural production and
development towards commercialisation of agricultural extension. Measuring
attitudes as a psychological natural tendency provides a basis for planning and also
affects desirable changes in the existing system. The prime objective of this study was
to develop a scale to measure the attitudes of the farmers towards commercialisation
of agricultural extension. Attitude towards commercialisation of agricultural
extension service (CAES) refers to the “individual’s degree of willingness or
unwillingness towards commercialisation of agricultural extension service.”
Initially 41 statements were developed and out of these only 30 statements were
identified as reliable statements. Out of 30 statements remained after validity test, 19
are identified as positive statements and 11 are as negative.
