Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of agricultural extension services provided by public sector on the individual technology adoption behaviour of rice farmers in Sri Lanka.

Design/methodology/approach: The study used data from a cross sectional survey conducted in seven rice procuring regions in Sri Lanka. Eight rice technologies were selected to explore the effect of extension service on adoption behaviour of rice farmers using probit models. The extension service variable was identified as potentially endogeneous and instrumented using average extension for each region.

Findings: The results revealed that the extension service variable was positive and indicative of a high level of significance in all the rice technologies promoting the adoption. Hence the public agricultural extension service programmes were considered as significant explanators of technology adoption. The farmers who received agricultural extension service were more likely to adopt a technology.

Social implications: At present, the position of agricultural extension service is questioned and the future is unknown. Therefore, this study advises policy makers to prioritise agricultural policies to strengthen public spending on agricultural extension for effective adoption of technological innovations.

Originality/value: The paper adds solid empirical evidence to the literature on technology adoption behaviour from a peasant agricultural context in a developing country scenario that uses farm level data. Moreover, the study contributes to the literature by reiterating the significance of public provision of extension and training programmes as a direct motive in the technology adoption behaviour of farmers.