Attitude of Farmers and Factor Associated with Farmers Attitude towards Agricultural Extension Services Provided by Private Organizations in Kibondo District, Kigoma Region, Tanzania

Abstract

The main focus of this study was based on extension services provided by private organizations such as non-Government organizations (NGOs), Farmer Based organizations (FBOs) and private agribusiness firms. However, prior to make any decision regarding the quality of extension services from these organizations, it is crucial to understand the perspective of farmers regarding the privatization of agricultural extension services. Therefore, the study intended to analyze farmers attitude towards agricultural extension services provided by private organizations. The study employed the use of 120 respondents selected from four villages kibingo, kitahana. Biturana and Bitare. The study used a total of 10 statement which were obtained from literatures, informal meeting with farmers and agricultural extension officer. Six statements were positive and four statements were negative. Prior data analysis all negative statements were converted to positive statements. Thereafter, data were analyzed by using Statistical package for social science version 20 in which descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage and mean were computed. The study found that 75% had unfavorable attitude, 11.7% had favorable attitude, 12.5% were neutral and 0.8% had most unfavorable attitude toward agricultural extension services provided by private organizations. Also, ordinal regression was used to determine factors associated with farmers attitude among all factors only group membership was to found to be positive and statistically significant with P<0.000 and odds ratio of 0.002. The study concludes that majority of farmers are not in favor with extension services from private organizations. This is due to lack of awareness among farmer concerning these private organizations that provide extension services. Therefore, the study recommends that, important strategies such as spreading awareness to farmers about private organizations, fostering public-private partnership and encouraging farmers to join agricultural associations would help to make farmers to be in-favor with extension services from private providers.