Perceptions about quality of public and private agricultural extension in Africa: Evidence from farmers in Burkina Faso

In a context of more involvement of the private sector in the provision of agricultural extension services as policy option in Burkina Faso, and since policy evidence is needed to better inform policy makers; a study was conducted to assess the perception of farmers under private and public extension systems about the quality of their services. Four services were assessed: facilitation of access to credit, facilitation of input provision, technical support and facilitation of access to market. Two groups of farmers were selected in the South Central Region of Burkina Faso; the groups included 136 farmers who received services from the public extension system; and 135 farmers selected from three localities covered by private extension services. A Likert scale was used to collect data on farmers’ perceptions and analysed with descriptive statistics. It was found that both two groups of farmers were satisfied with the quality of services provided. However, farmers under private extension system rated the quality of services they received better than farmers under public extension did. Therefore, government can promote private participation in extension delivery by creating a good business environment for the private systems to operate.