An Assessment of Farmers Willingness to Pay for Wheat Consultant Engineers Project: In Iran

Problem statement: Public extension performance in many developing countries including Iran is not up to the expectation of farming community. Further, in recent years, many governments are very reluctant to shoulder huge financial investment for public extension. Hence, extension specialists and policy makers propose privatization of extension services in developing countries. Approach: Considering existing agricultural extension scenario, a study designed to determine the level of farmer Willingness To Pay (WTP) for Wheat Consulting Engineers Project (WCEsP) (as a private extension services) in Esfahan province, Iran, during 2007. Questionnaires used to assess the amount which farmers were willing to pay and WCEs that were received incomes of farmers. Primary data on the demographic, socio-economic variables of farmers and their WTP collected from 100 farmers and 95 wheat consultant engineers selected randomly in a sampling procedure in the Esfahan, Iran. Data collected were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The data summarized using frequency distribution. Results: Results of the analysis showed that (75%) of farmers no present for paying also (55 %) said that in the future no ability to pay. Also (63%) of WCEs did not receive any money from farmers. The result of farmers showed that were membership of WCEsP only extension volunteers had a more tendency for paying. In addition to WCEs that have played more roles in contracts, in way of getting money related to cost have acted successfully. Conclusions/Recommendations: The study concluded that there is a challenge to extension experts to make programs participatory and farmers relevant if farmers to be charged with the responsibility of participating in financing agricultural extension services.