Agricultural Extension Contact and Farmer’s Income in Bangladesh

Abstract

The impacts of extension contact on income of farmers have been examined with a view to evaluate the agricultural extension services in Bangladesh. The scope of the study was ten villages of Gazipur of Bangladesh. The objective of the study is to identify the effect of extension contact on crop income, livestock income, fisheries income, miscellaneous income, total agricultural income, nonagricultural income and total income of farmers. The sample of the study consists of 1000 farmers. Data came from field survey and multistage random sampling technique was used for the collection of data. The results indicated that the impacts of extension contact coefficients on crop income, nonagricultural income are positive and significant. However, the impacts of extension contact coefficients are not significant in the cases of livestock, fisheries, miscellaneous and agricultural incomes. But it does not mean that agricultural extension has no reward in Bangladesh. The sample data indicates that the impact of extension contact on total income of farmers is positive and significant. The study concludes that agricultural extension is necessary to raise the income of farmers.