A study was conducted in two districts namely Kanpur Nagar and Kanpur Dehat of Uttar Pradesh on a sample size of 200 farmers in order to find out the capacity and willingness of farmers to pay for extension services. The opinion of private extension agencies and public extension agencies along with other partners of technology dissemination were also obtained. The willingness of farmers to pay for extension services was found depending upon severity and urgency of the problem and also on the possibility of economic returns from a particular service. About 50 per cent farmers agreed that effect of treatment/advice and its economic viability were the major criterion influencing willingness to pay. The 39 per cent farmers agreed that a reasonable levy should be charged on certain agricultural products as fee after crop harvesting. The 34 per cent farmers agreed that the approach might be effective ‘cost sharing by group of farmers’. Constraints related to input delivery services such as ‘adulteration in fertilizers, pesticides and seeds, selling of out of expiry date inputs, 'poor knowledge about inputs quality’ were major constraints as perceived by farmers. Impurity of seed was another severe problem in the opinion of farmers. Lack of private agencies in diagnostic services, advice related to product, unskilled sellers performing advisory services, non existence of staff in full time for extension, were the major problems associated with diagnosis and advisory services. Fragmented land holdings, varied farming situation and crops, socio-economic imbalances, etc. were the other major general constrains as perceived by the farmers, researches/experts and private agencies

Keyword: Private extension; Public