Factors Affecting Farmers’ Satisfaction with Public Agricultural Services at Local level in Nepal

The purpose of this study is to assess farmers’ overall satisfaction with public agricultural services at the local level and to identify factors affecting farmers’ satisfaction. This study employed a step-by-step process to explore the relevant factors that affect farmers’ satisfaction with agricultural services. Farmers’ overall satisfaction was assessed using a Likert scale. Logit regression was used to confirm the factors that positively affected farmers’ satisfaction with agricultural services. Farmers’ overall satisfaction with the agricultural services between the municipalities was found statistically highly significant at the 1% level and overwhelmingly high (90%) deriving from the moderate to highly satisfied responses (5% highly satisfied, 39% satisfied, and 46.3% moderately satisfied). These findings indicated that farmers are highly optimistic and have a higher acceptance of the devolved agricultural services at local governments in general. Farmers’ personal, household, and farm related factors; governance and capacity of the service providers; and performance measures related factors were found to be associated with farmers’ satisfaction. Among these factors, logit regression results revealed that capable technical staff, allocation of sufficient financial resources for agricultural services, accountability, and timeliness of services positively and significantly affected farmers’ satisfaction with agricultural services at the local level. Among the personal and household-related factors, the education level of farmers and migration of household members have been found to be positively associated with farmers’ satisfaction with agricultural services. This study is useful to scholars and policymakers engaged in public service delivery and public policy reform.