Nowadays, the changes arising from new technologies have seriously affected different aspects of lives around the world. Agriculture is one of the economic sectors that its future development depends on the application of ICTs in agricultural extension which is one of the important institutions that seeks new technologies and methodologies to improve agricultural effectiveness. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) has recently become a new field of study and has a crucial effect on all educational grounds, learning and research. Accordingly the present investigation was carried out to identify the factors affecting the use of ICTs by agricultural extension agents working in Gilan province in Iran. Out of this, 203 agents were selected as sample through stratified random sampling technique. The data were collected by a questionnaire developed for the study. The validity of the assessment tool was proved by a panel of experts judgement and its reliability was o.86. The findings showed that four factors have affected the use of ICTs by agricultural extension agents. These factors were named as: Attitude toward ICTs application in agricultural extension, The extent of problems faced by extension organization to use ICTs, Knowledge on ICTs and personal characteristics. The mentioned factors explained 78.66 per cent of total variance of ICTs application in agricultural extension.

Keywords: ICTs, agricultural extension agents, Gilan province, Iran.