Need for agricultural extension services for rural women in tehsil Faisalabad, Pakistan

Agriculture occupies a linchpin position in the country's economy. The growth of production in agriculture largely depends on the transfer of technology to the farming community. Agricultural extension is one of the driving forces that are responsible for the growth of agricultural productivity by transferring latest and improved technologies to the farmers and ultimately strengthens the national economy. Although women have prominent role in agriculture but in our country the agricultural extension services for them are almost non-existent, while on the other hand high emphasis is given to the education and training of men especially in public sector extension. Rural women face problems like lack of access to latest agricultural information and less interaction with field staff of various extension agencies. Keeping in view the above facts, the present study was designed to assess the need for agricultural extension services for rural women i n tehsil Faisalabad. For this purpose out of 58 rural union councils, five was selected at random through simple random sampling technique. From each selected union council one village was selected randomly and from each selected village, 25 farm families were selected at random. From each selected farm family, one woman who was actively involved in farming was selected, thereby, making a total number of 125 respondents. The data were collected with the help of a pre-tested and validated interview schedule. The data, thus collected, were analyzed and interpreted for reporting results and drawing conclusions. It was concluded that a large majority of the rural women showed a great interest in gaining agricultural information related to crops, livestock and poultry production.