Abstract
In Pakistan, privatization of agricultural extension system was started in 1988 on the recommendation of National
Commission on Agriculture established by the government to look into the causes of poor performance of agricultural sector.
Currently, private sector (320 multinational, national and generic pesticide companies) is actively engaged in extension
activities in the Punjab. The sector is bound to provide extension services to the farmers in addition to selling pesticide
products. In the present study, Narayana’s Lotus Model was adopted to assess the strengths and weaknesses of competencies
possessed by extension workers of private extension system. A cross-sectional research design was used for the study in
Punjab province. Simple random sampling technique was used for the selection of respondents. Sixty (60) respondents
(private extension field staff) from selected multinational pesticide company (Syngenta) were personally interviewed with the
help of pre-tested and validated research instrument. Results show that mean values of professional competencies of private
agricultural extension workers regarding knowledge, attitude, skills and attributes were 3.68, 3.82, 3.84 and 3.73 with
standard deviation of 0.47, 0.39, 0.38 and 0.49, respectively. This means that competencies possessed by extension workers
of private sector (Syngenta) were perceived in the range of strength and great strength on the likert scale. But, keeping in
view some other studies conducted to measure competency of extension field staff (EFS) through farmers' respondents, a
great discrepancy in opinion existed among farmers and EFS on the same issue.
