Assessment of Workers and Practice of Agricultural Extension
Chapter One
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The objectives of the study are;
- To examine the personnel characteristics of extension workers in Edo and Delta State;
- To identify channel, respondents frequently use in sourcing and application of agricultural extension principles on their job
- To ascertain respondent perceived important and improvement strategies for practices of agricultural extension principles
- To access the extent to which extension workers apply extension principles in their daily operations in the study area
- To identify motivational factors for respondents use of agricultural extension principle
- To identify constraint in the use of agricultural extension principles by respondent.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE AGRICULTURAL POLICY AND ITS IMPACTS
The new agricultural policy covers a wide range of aspects with the ultimate objective to revamp the entire agricultural sector in the country, making it more competitive, efficient and profitable. Implementation of extension component of the agricultural policy is guided by Agricultural Extension Implementation Guidelines of 2008. The guidelines map various stakeholders involved in delivery of extension service at National, Regional, District, Ward and Village levels and stipulates the involvement and roles of each stakeholder. At national level, the Ministry has an established mechanism for coordinating and supervising agricultural extension services in the country. At regional level, extension services are coordinated through the Regional Consultative Committees. At District and Ward levels the District Facilitation Team (DFT) and Ward Facilitation Team (WFT) coordinate and strengthen team work and transform the roles of extension from technology transfer to facilitation and farmers’ empowerment. The two teams are responsible for participatory planning, implementation and monitoring of different extension activities in the District. At village level, the Village extension officer works in collaboration with the village government on establishing farmers groups and networks on implementation of extension services (MAFC, 2008).
AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION EDUCATION
Agricultural extension education is a service or system which assists farm people, through educational procedures, in improving farming methods and techniques, increasing production efficiency and income, bettering the levels of living and lifting social and educational standards (Maunder, 1973). The term extension was first used by the University of Cambridge and Oxford in 1867 to describe teaching activities that extended the work of the institutions beyond their campuses. Most of these earlier activities were not, however, related to agriculture. The birth of modern agricultural extension education has been attributed to events that took place in Ireland in the middle of the 19th Century. Between, 1845 – 1851, the Irish potato crop was destroyed by fungal disease and a severe famine occurred. The British government thus arranged for “political instructors” to travel to rural areas and teach small scale farmers how to cultivate alternative crops. This scheme attracted the attention of government officials in Germany, who also organized their own system of instructors. By the end of the 19th Century, the idea had spread to Denmark, Netherlands, Italy and France. In the 20th Century, colleges in the United States also started conducting demonstrations at agricultural shows and giving lectures to farmers’ clubs. Eventually, agricultural extension education spread to Africa and Asia during colonization.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought assessment of workers and practice of agricultural extension principles
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
DATA ANALYSIS
The data collected from the respondents were analyzed in tabular form with simple percentage for easy understanding.
A total of 133(one hundred and thirty three) questionnaires were distributed and 133 questionnaires were returned.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain assessment of workers and practice of agricultural extension principles. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of workers and practice of agricultural extension principles
Summary
This study was on assessment of workers and practice of agricultural extension principles. Five objectives were raised which included: To examine the personnel characteristics of extension workers in Edo and Delta State, to identify channel, respondents frequently use in sourcing and application of agricultural extension principles on their job, to ascertain respondent perceived important and improvement strategies for practices of agricultural extension principles, to access the extent to which extension workers apply extension principles in their daily operations in the study area, to identify motivational factors for respondents use of agricultural extension principle, to identify constraint in the use of agricultural extension principles by respondent. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 staff of agricultural extension in selected local government in Edo state. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made agriculturists, agricultural extension officers, senior staff and junior staff were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
It was found in order of frequency that the extension educators used the following teaching techniques: Demonstrations, questions and answers, hands on experiences, problems solving approaches discussions and lectures. The study established that the use of demonstrations, questions and answers and hands on experience teaching techniques led to farmers’ adoption of modern agricultural techniques. Consequently, food production has increased amongst farmers who participated in the programme.
REFERENCES
- Agbamu, J. (2000). “Agricultural Research -Extension linkage Systems: An International Perspective,” Department for International Development (DFID): UK.
- CUTS (2011). “Extension Services in Tanzania: Better reaching Remote Areas,” Geneva Switzerland.
- DALDO (2012 Unpublished-a). District Agricultural Development Plans report, Songea Rural District.
- DALDO (2012 Unpublished-b). District Agricultural Development Plans Report. Kyela District.
- FAOSTAT (2009). “Trends in Fertilizer use in Tanzania. As cited by Nicholas Minot 2009.”
- Kimaro, H., Mukandiwa, L., and Mario, E. Z. J. (2010). Towards Improving Agricultural Extension Service Delivery in the SADC Region. In “Workshop on Information Sharing among Extension Players in the SADC Region”, Dar es Salaam Tanzania.
- MAFC (2008). “Agricultural Extension Implementation Guidelines,” Ministry of Agriculture Food Security and Cooperatives; Dar es Salaam.
- MAFC (2009). “National Rice Development Strategy,” Dar es Salaam; Tanzania.
