Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Agriculture - Department of Rural Sociology and Agricultural Extension

The current Agricultural extension system in Egypt is facing several challenges that hinder reaching small landholders in the Delta and the Valley of Egypt. Among these challenges are the ever-decreasing numbers of extension agents and the shrinking budgets. Along with the other contextual changes, this system needs drastic changes and rearrangements to face such challenges. This study has investigated the preference of three suggested scenarios for reforming the agriculture extension system that included; 1) strengthening the current public agricultural extension organization, 2) Public Private Partnership (PPP), and 3) privatisation of the service. The study has been conducted in three governorates, namely Sohag, Kafr El-Sheikh, and Sharqia. One District was randomly selected in each governorate, i.e. El-Maragha, Kafr El-Sheikh and Monshaat Omar, respectively. Moreover, one village was randomly selected in each of the abovementioned districts, i.e. El-Shorania, Kafr Matboul and Monshaat Omar, respectively. Data were collected by applying a questionnaire through personal interviews with a random sample of 316 farmers, representing about 10% of the total population of farmers in the three selected villages.Frequencies, percentages, Standard Deviations and Chi-Square were utilized for data presentation and analysis. The results revealed that the first suggested scenario was preferred by the majority (67.4%) of the respondents. The scenario of partnership between public, governmental and private sectors was the second preference reported by (28.5%). Privatisation of the agricultural extension organization was the least preferred by the respondents, as it was reported by only 3% of the sample

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