Self-perceived Needs Of Rural Women For Agricultural Extension Services

Abstract

The present research was conducted in district Bahawalpur (Southern Punjab, Pakistan) to determine the needs of rural women for agriculture extension services on the basis of their self perception. All the rural farm women residing in district Bahawalpur served as the population of the study. A multistage sampling technique was used for the selection of study respondents. The results show that women were involved in a variety of operations regarding crop and livestock production, but they don’t have access to agricultural extension services. It was concluded that according to women winnowing (Separation of wheat from chaff) is the area where they need extension services from public or private extension agency. Age of the respondents was highly correlated with preferred activities of sowing (r =0.90) and harvesting (r =0.89) of crops, fruits, and vegetables in the area of crop production. Demographic variables of education and age have significant but low correlations with all the preferred activities in livestock production sector. It is suggested that Government should establish women training centers in rural areas and start a training programmes. In the privincial setup of Agriculture Extension Departmnet, a women extension worker should be appointed to train and guide rural women about crop production and crop protection technologies.