Abstract

FERNANDO P, Landini. Profile of extensionists at the Department of Agricultural Extension of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock of Paraguay. Investig. Agrar. [online]. 2013, vol.15, n.1, pp.39-46. ISSN 2305-0683.

Rural extension is a key strategy to facilitate rural development processes. However, despite the existence of many scientific papers addressing issues relating this topic, there are only a few that have empirically addressed rural extension. Thus, this paper aims to describe and analyze the profile of rural extensionists working at the Directorate of Agricultural Extension (DEAg) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock of Paraguay. To reach this objective, 169 out of 800 rural extensionists working in this institution were surveyed using an incidental sampling. The statistical analysis of the results was conducted using SPSS software. Among the conclusions, it stands out an increase in rural extensionists in the last years. Nonetheless, their situation is fragile, given most of them have non-permanent contracts (55.4%) and have no university education (60.1%). A negative element is the absence of statistical relationship between rural extensionists’ level of education and their hierarchical position in the institution (Kruskal Wallis: χ²=1.15(2), r=0.56). Regarding gender, most rural extensionists are men (71.6% vs. 28.4%). What’s more, women occupying decision-making positions such as Manager of Rural Development Centers or Heads of Local Development Agencies are much less than expected, if taken into account the percentage of employees they represent in the DEAg (women represent 33.8% of field technicians but only 6.9% of extension authorities).

Keywords : Rural extension; profile; rural development; Paraguay.

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