AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION AGENT’S IMPACT ON AGRICULTURE DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
THE STUDY’S BACKGROUND
Agricultural extension is frequently viewed as an educational process that promotes learning by combining biological science findings with social science principles to effect changes in knowledge, skill, attitude, and practices in and out of the classroom (Ileubaoje 2004). According to Eremie (2005), agricultural extension services play a significant role in ensuring that Nigeria meets its million development goals.
These perceived important roles of agricultural extension influenced the creation of the agricultural development program (ADPs). With the reorganization and strengthening of the ADPS’s extension agent along the training and visits line in 2006, a number of activities were launched to ensure that the seven features of the trainings and visits are implemented.
These have resulted in a shift in the roles of extension workers, resulting in some level of satisfaction among both extension workers and their clients (Ajuwon 2006). It is also worth noting that, despite the tremendous achievements of Nigeria’s agricultural sector, the ADPs have been plagued by a slew of issues, particularly the end of World Bank counterpart funding.
These issues range from the Nona rail ability of facilities required for effective implementation and functioning of extension workers to poorly motivated staff, which results in low morale, a low level of role perception, and poor extension worker performance (Banmeke and Ajayi 2005) Chikwendu et al. (2007) noted that there have been indications of ineffectiveness in the extension agent of the ADPs in recent years.
Every manager’s goal is to increase production and efficiency in order to achieve the best possible results for the organization. Motivation for better performance is dependent on job satisfaction, achievement, recognition, and professional growth (Adeniyi, 2001). The rural area is the dominant food and fiber producing sector of Nigeria society, and all natural resources that comprise a nation’s wealth are obtained from the rural areas.
The rural is also important in Nigeria because it is where more than 70 percent of the people live and earn a living. The state of Nigeria’s rural areas is determined by a combination of methods, including available social, physical, and institutional infrastructures, as well as people’s standard of living, including perceived deprivation and satisfaction with current standard of living.
The rural areas of Nigeria are characterized by a lack of public infrastructure, poor education, poor health services, and low agricultural productivity, resulting in a low standard of living for the majority of the population. However, in recent years, agricultural extension agents have played a significant role in improving agricultural production in Nigeria through advisory services and adequate access to information on improved production techniques.
Agricultural extension plays a critical role in ensuring awareness and subsequent adoption of modern agricultural management methods. A variety of extension teaching methods have been used to ensure that technologies reach end users, the most prominent of which is the agricultural development program’s training and visit system.
The extension strategy’s central principle or idea is to produce competent and well-informed extension agents who will visit farmers frequently and regularly with relevant technical messages and bring farmers’ problems to research. Each extension agent is required to visit the farmers/group farmer’s on a regular basis with relevant messages that are specific to the farm practices taking place in the field at the time.
Farmers’ feedback is also brought to the research station by extension agents. The extension agent works under the assumption that increased agricultural productivity is primarily dependent on acceptance of improved cultural and technological change at the rural farm level, and that peasant farmers can achieve improved production only if they adopt recommended agricultural practices rather than traditional over.
Adoption of improved agricultural practices is dependent on rural farmers gaining the necessary knowledge and understanding of these technologies. This will increase productivity and raise the living standards of the agents’ beneficiaries (Lawal, Bodo Toriminobia Makanjuola) (2006) The efficiency of technologies generated and disseminated, on the other hand, is dependent on end-user adoption.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
All stakeholders, including the donor community, are concerned about the failure of various extension delivery approaches in developing countries to effectively engineer significant and sustainable agricultural growth.
Concerns have recently been fueled by the global wave of pluralism, market liberalization, and globalization, which has given rise to initiatives aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of not only the sub-components of extension delivery, but the entire system of technology generation, dissemination, and use.
With a rapidly expanding population, environmental degradation, political instability, economic failure, and a shrinking budget, it is necessary to reconsider how agricultural technology is delivered to farmers. This rethinking paved the way for us to investigate the role of agricultural extension agents in agricultural development in Edo-Egor state’s local government.
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this study is to look into the role of agricultural extension in the development of agriculture in the country, using Egor Local Government Area in Edo State as a case study.
THE STUDY’S IMPORTANCE
Knowing the impact of agriculture will go a long way toward encouraging individuals, governments, and non-governmental organizations to see the importance of agricultural extension in the country. In an effort to assess the impact of agricultural extension, problems encountered by extension agents will be investigated, and potential solutions will be proposed, which if implemented will aid in educating and alerting existing agricultural extension agents, as well as new agents, on what to expect as an extension agent.
QUESTION FOR RESEARCH
The research project includes the following research questions
1. What are people’s perceptions of agricultural extension?
2. Have you had a visit from an extension agent?
3. What role does this visit play in your agricultural life?
4. What are the obstacles to making the best use of agricultural extension?
THE STUDY’S OBJECTIVE
This study will investigate the impact of agricultural extension on agricultural development in the country, with Egor Local Government Area of Edo-state as the case study. This study’s populations include farmers in the local government as well as agricultural extension agents.
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AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION AGENT’S IMPACT ON AGRICULTURE DEVELOPMENT