Farmers today are different from farmers in the past because they are more willing to use intense and diversified farming methods to increase their yields. The need of the farmer is not met by the government. So, public to private services for agricultural extension were changed. Additionally, the demand-driven strategy used by private extension service providers aims to close the gaps by identifying the needs of the farmers and providing services in response to those requirements. In this study, we tried to know the farmers’ perception regarding private extension services. The present study was conducted in Khordha district of Odisha to know the farmers' responses on area, form, need and willingness to pay for technical support received from private extension services. The study included a random sample of 120 farmers. Farmers’ readiness to pay for extension services was discovered to depend on the seriousness and urgency of the issue, as well as the potential for financial gains from a particular service. About 96 percent of the respondents stated that government agencies have failed to provide required technical information and need-based extension advisories to the farmers. We can conclude that Farmers perceived the need of private extension services mostly in the area of post-harvest management of agricultural produce. The majority of the respondents were of the view that government agencies failed to provide required technical information and advisories and thus they were looking forward to private extension services even on a payment basis.

Keyword: Privatization; Agricultural extension services; Private extension service organization; Self-help approach.