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To achieve rural development objectives, in addition to comperhensive plan, there is a need for a suitable organization. In recent decades various organizations have been created to serve those purposes in developing countries. In Iran, Agricultural Service Centres have been eatablished to facilitate rural development. To study the activities and performance of the centers, eleven centers were selected in Marvdasht townshiP in the Fars Province.
Among villages served by the Centers, ten were selected of which five were more developed and five were less developed. A sample of 52 farmers were seleted for interview. In addition, the managers of all 11 centers were interviewed. Results of the study revealed that the centers have a long way to go to achieve their stated objectives. The centers have been successful, to a limited extent, in building up infrastructures. The mean area under crop cultivation and mean yield per hectare for most of the crops have not increased significantly. Only the mean yield of barley has been increased and the livestock death rate has been decreased in less developed villages significantly. Low age and limited financial and human resoruces were among the reasons for poor performance of the centers. Lack of planning and rapid expansion of centeres in a short period caused the existing resources not to be used effectively. At the end of the paper some recommendations have been made for increasing the efficiency of rural service centers.