The impact of extension contact on crop income is examined with a view to evaluating the agricultural extension in Bangladesh. The scope of the study was ten villages of Gazipur district. The objectives of the study are to i) determine the factors influencing the benefit of extension services in terms of farm income, ii) determine the factors affecting the extension contact of farmers, and iii) suggest some policy guidelines to improve the extension services in Bangladesh. The sample of the study consists of 1000 farmers. Data came from field survey and multistage random sampling technique was used in order to collect data. The results indicated that the impact of extension contact coefficient on crop income is positive and significant. Evidence shows that the influence of extension contact coefficient is strongly positive and significant in the comparatively nearer villages to upazila headquarters, while this effect is weaker for those villages, which are comparatively away from upazila headquarters. It is found that many farmers did not receive extension contact and the effect of extension contact is weak on crop income compared to other factors such as irrigation and chemical fertilizer. It is assumed that there was enough scope to increase extension contact in the study areas. Some determinants of extension contact were also examined. The study concludes that agricultural extension is necessary to increase among the farmers. Bangladesh J. Agril. Res. 38(2): 321-334, June 2013 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjar.v38i2.15893

The impact of agricultural extension contact on agricultural income has been conducted. The objectives of the study were to examine the actual benefits of agricultural extension services on productivity through an agricultural production function and if there are benefits for farmers to determine the type of farmers who benefited from the services. Fifty samples were collected from two sub districts of the Gazipur district in Bangladesh. The selection of the study sites and collection of the sample were done purposively. It is clarified from the study that extension services have significant contribution to raise agricultural income per unit of farm land. Results were derived through regression analysis. The results show that the contact coefficient of three times and above is higher (0.353) compared to the contact coefficient one and two times (0.234). It is observed that for a successful introduction of agricultural extension contacts in the country socio economic factors such as education of farmers, age and number of adult family members, ratio of agricultural income to total income should be taken into consideration.

The impact of extension contact is examined with a view to evaluating the  agriculture extension in Bangladesh. It is found that the impact of extension contact is stronger for the comparatively near villages to upazila headquarters. This effect is weaker for those villages, which are comparatively away from upazila headquarters. Evident shows that the influence of extension contact is strongly positive and significant in the upazila where people are mostly involved in agricultural works. The results show that the impact of extension contact, which is one of the basic tenet of agricultural extension, as found in the yield of rice in the whole survey area, is strongly positive and significant. Some determinants of extension contact are also examined. Findings revealed that education of farmers, size of farm families, number of earners of farm families, irrigation and villages which are nearer to the upazila headquarters are key determinants for a household participation in extension contact. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjar.v36i4.11762 Bangladesh J. Agril. Res. 36(4): 723-732, December 2011

The impact of farmers' education is examined with a view to evaluate the actual situation of farmers' education in Bangladesh. Fifty samples were collected from two sub districts of the Gazipur district in Bangladesh. The selection of the study sites and collection of the samples such as the years of schooling of the farm household head, total income, farm size, number of earners of farm families, family size, years of farming experience of farm household head, number of times extension contacts and rice yield were done purposively. It is cleared from the study that education is necessary for farmers to raise their wealth. Results were derived through regression analysis. The study has also shown that size of family and years of farming experience contributed significantly to the wealth accumulation of farmers.

Background: Rapidly progressing population ageing in India translates into more chronic diseases and healthcare expenditure among the elderly. But inadequate geriatric centred services in rural areas may hinder the health seeking behaviour among rural elderly. Hence, this study was done to assess utilization of healthcare facilities by elderly in rural Kanyakumari and to identify factors associated with it. Methods: Elderly people above 60 years of age were selected from rural Kanyakumari by multistage sampling. 250 subjects for the cross-sectional study were finalised after excluding debilitated elderly. Data was collected by a pretested questionnaire after getting informed consent. Results: Mean age of the study group was 70.12 years. 60% of elderly were currently married while 70.8% elderly were unemployed. More than half of the elderly population (57.6%) claimed to avoid healthcare facilities in times of need, citing cost of hospital care (27.6%) and perceived triviality of illness as the most common reasons. More than 75% elderly used out of pocket expenditure to meet healthcare expenses. Most of them (96%) did not have health insurance. Elderly people with education beyond primary school level and belonging to upper socioeconomic status had a statistically significant association with better healthcare utilization. Conclusion: Perception of disease as an age-related phenomenon has to be negated in order to improve healthcare utilization. Also, the importance of healthcare in improving functionality has to be conveyed to the community. Affordable and universal healthcare suited to geriatric needs have to be made available to the rural elderly population.