The Need for a Strong Public-Private Linkage in Agricultural Extension System (Case Study: Sari Township, Iran)

Relationship between public and private sector is becoming an increasingly important issue in management of agricultural extension services. The need for a strong linkage could be identified as the gap between desirable and current situation. In this research, the differences among current and desirable situation in six diverse dimensions was calculated. The current and desirable situation was evaluated from the overview of two groups of experts in public (n=36) and private (n=59) sector in Sari township. The research instrument was a questionnaire which was filled during interviews. Reliability and validity of questionnaire was verified using Chronbach’s alpha test and views of panel of experts respectively. Results showed that there is a need to reinforce the link between public and private extension, especially in case of organizational structure system. This study showed that, the linkage between decision making and planning system of extension system is inappropriate and should be improved.