Trends and Sustainability of Agricultural Extension Service Delivery: Analysis of Policy Issues in Linking the Agricultural Development Programme to Universities in Nigeria

Authors

  • S O Eze Department of Rural Sociology & Extension Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike

Keywords:

Trends, Sustainability, Agricultural Extension Service Delivery, Analysis, Policy Issues, Agricultural Development Programme

Abstract

This study examined the trends and analysed policy issues in linking the agricultural development programme (ADP) to universities in order to establish sustainability in extension service delivery in Nigeria. Three out of five agricultural zones namely: southwest, central and northwest were covered, while four states namely: Benue, Kaduna, Ogun and Osunwere purposively selected. The reasons for selecting the states were basically because of their representativeness of the agricultural zones and implementation of university extension- farmer outreach programmes in the states. All the staff of the ADP and university in the selected states constituted the population. On the whole, 207 randomly selected extension staff made up of 115 from ADP and 92 from the university constituted the sample size for the study. Questionnaire was employed in data collection, while percentage was adopted in analysing the data. The study reveals that extension staff of ADP have better tenets of thorough field extension service delivery in terms of staff distribution and extension coveragethan university with limited staff and field orientation. The university utilised their academic staff in technology generation, while the ADP staff were basically involved in field extension service delivery. The ADP organised constant and decentralised staff training for field extension workers, while university had better training facilities and provided competitive training incentives. The study recommends restructuring of the ADP and university extension systems based on policy issues that would enhance their linkages and sustainability in extension service delivery.

References

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How to Cite

Eze, S. O. (2015). Trends and Sustainability of Agricultural Extension Service Delivery: Analysis of Policy Issues in Linking the Agricultural Development Programme to Universities in Nigeria. Journal of Agricultural Extension, 5(1). Retrieved from https://journal.aesonnigeria.org/index.php/jae/article/view/280

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Section

General Extension and Teaching Methods