Strengths and Weaknesses of Extension System as Perceived Extension Filed Staff

Major modifications in the nation building departments were launched in Pakistan through the Devolution Plan 2000 promulgated by the then military regime. In the agriculture sector, changes were introduced in 2001 to replace the existing Training & Visit (T&V) system. The training sessions arranged by extension workers in the decentralized system are similar to the ones arranged in the T&V system. The difference is that in the T&V system, there were fortnightly training sessions but under the current approach only two to three training sessions are arranged in a crop season. Another difference is that under T&V the Field Assistants were front line extension workers whereas in the decentralized system AOs are the extension workers. Another major difference of both approaches is that under T&V approach, extension was centrally managed by the Director General, Agriculture (Ext & AR) at the provincial headquarters level whereas presently extension is decentralized and locally managed by District Officer of Agriculture (DOAs) at district level who is answerable to Executive District Officer of Agriculture (EDOA). In previous system, the Extension Field Staff (EFS) followed fortnightly schedule to provide the information to contact farmers (CFs) who were supposed to pass on the same to non contact farmers (NCFs). Furthermore, decision-making under T&V system was done at central level. Whereas, in the present system, the EFS are conducting crop-wise trainings for the dissemination of agricultural information and decision-making is done at district level. The role of CFs has been abolished in the present system. So, keeping in view the change made under decentralized extension system, the strengths and weaknesses of contemporary system were assessed. The population of the study consisted of change agents and their supervisory staff working in Faisalabad district. The data were collected by using “survey” method. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze the data. It was concluded that information reaches farmers,, access to information by farmers also increased under decentralized extension system. The decentralized extension system offers more feedback on farmers’ problems to Extension field Staff (EFS). However, respondents were very concerned about the appreciation / reward criteria for good extension worker. It is recommended that a strong reward system should be in placed for increasing efficiency. The data regarding the weaknesses show that work load of EFS is increased and extension system lacks single line command tended toward agree category.