Attitude of women farmers towards agricultural extension services in Ifelodun local government area, Osun State

This article was designed to present the assessment of the effectiveness of radio - based, impact driven smallholder farmer extension service system provided by FVR to enhance accessibility of extension services to women and men in the project areas of Tanzania. Specifically, this paper assessed women and men farmers' access to ICT and factors influencing the utilization of ICT to deliver agricultural information and knowledge. The paper used data from impact assessment survey of the project conducted between April 2012 and June 2012. These data were complemented by focus group discussion involving members of gender advisory panel that had been established in the selected project sites. Quantitative data were analyzed to yield frequencies and percentages. Qualitative data were analyzed by content analysis. Even though ownership of mobile phones and radio was higher among women in all study areas both men and women farmers' had almost the same percentage in accessibility to agricultural extension information. The factors that affected women and men farmers to get quality agricultural information via these ICT tools were namely: poor radio signal reception, power outrage and poor timing of radio programs among others. This is important evidence that careful use of ICT can reduce gender imbalance in agricultural extension services and information delivery.

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Extension Activities for Arable Crops Production in Akure South Local Government Area, Ondo State, Nigeria

Journal of Agricultural Extension ◽

10.4314/jae.v22i1.1s ◽

1970 ◽

Vol 22 (1) ◽

pp. 1-10

Author(s):

O.V. Ayodele ◽

M.O. Akindele

Keyword(s):

Local Government ◽

Formal Education ◽

Sampling Procedure ◽

Local Government Area ◽

Farm Size ◽

Extension Service ◽

Extension Services ◽

Arable Crops ◽

Arable Crop ◽

Ondo State

The study examined agricultural extension activities for arable crops production in Akure South Local Government Area (LGA), Ondo State, Nigeria. Multistage sampling procedure was used to select respondents. Data were collected using interview schedule, and analyzed using descriptive statistics and Chi-square. Most respondents (65.6%) were male, 77.1% had formal education with a mean age of 47 years and an average household size of five (4). Furthermore, 80.2% had less than five hectares of land for arable crop farming while 40% of the respondents farmed for family consumption only. Major source of extension services was government agencies. The most accessed services were; choosing of planting dates and introduction to improved seedlings with a mean score of 3.18 and 3.13 respectively. A significant relationship existed between farmers’ perception about extension service and most socio economic characteristics such as; age (χ2 =57.92, P≤0.05) and farm size (χ2 = 65.283, P≤0.05). The study concluded that extension services in the study area were highly accessed and that farmers have high perception about extension services. It recommends more private agencies participation in extension services.Keywords: Extension service, arable crop farmers and perception.

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