16 pages, Lack of access to agricultural extension and advisory services has been identified as one of the major challenges facing emerging farmers in South Africa. The purpose of this study was to determine the level of access to these services by emerging livestock farmers in uThungulu District Municipality of KwaZulu-Natal. A survey design was used with face-to-face interviews to collect data using a semi-structured questionnaire. A sample of 1 437 was randomly selected from 4 792 emerging livestock farmers in the district. Descriptive statistical analyses were performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23 software. The results show that more than 90% of emerging livestock farmers in the district had high access to public extension and 14% had access to private extension, in addition. About 32% of the respondents also had access to extension and advisory services from agricultural cooperatives. There was an improvement in access to these services by emerging farmers compared to the past. The involvement of the private sector and cooperatives in rendering extension and advisory services to emerging livestock farmers shows that various stakeholders are involved in improving emerging livestock farmers in the province.
8 pages, Agricultural extension can be defined as the entire set of organisations that support and facilitate people engaged in agricultural production to solve problems and to obtain information, skills and technologies to improve their livelihoods and well-being. Extension officials should ensure that farmers are engaged and capacitated so that they can make production decisions that are not in conflict with nature, yet such decisions ensure that their well-being is improved. With 75% of the world’s poor living in rural areas, the topic of improved agriculture through agricultural extension is viewed as central to poverty reduction. There have been questions posed by stakeholders (communities, policy-makers and politicians) about the non-visibility and accountability of agricultural extension in the communities that it is supposed to help. There are however a number of factors (perceived or real) that make agricultural extension less or not visible nor accountable. Therefore, this paper investigates and proposes a theoretical framework or model to ensure that agricultural extension is visible and accountable to all stakeholders. This will in turn ensure that there are noticeable increases or improvement of the lives of the resource poor farmers and communities.
5 pages, The current research was planned and conducted at Institute of Agricultural Extension, Education
and Rural Development, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan during the year 2019-20
and restricted to district Gujranwala with respect to potato crop. The main objective of this study
was to compare the extension services provided by the public and private sector along with
different teaching methodologies adopted by them. However, 36 respondents from each tehsil
of district Gujranwala were selected through convenient sampling technique. Thereby, getting a
sample size of 144 for the purpose of data collection for which interviews were conducted. Data
were analyzed through SPSS. Results were explained through weighted score and mean values
of all variables. According to results it was found that both sectors were giving useful knowledge
to farmers with different teaching methods. It was also concluded that farmers had desire to take
information from public sector but they have to go to private sector for products. Furthermore, it
was also concluded that performance of public sector was better than private sector.
7 pages, Agricultural extension is the medium through which external agricultural technologies have been transferred to and transplanted in Africa to improve agricultural performance. Over a period of close to a century, different agricultural extension models have been proposed but their structure and content has virtually been the same: top-down, linear, non-participatory transfer of technology with no feedback loops for reverse diffusion. This presumably explains the poor performance of Africa’s agriculture and the scale of food security challenges facing the continent. In this review paper, we trace the history of agricultural extension and examine various agricultural extension delivery models to identify their major strengths and weaknesses, using Ghana and Burkina Faso as case studies. We then review the most recent literature in the field about the philosophy, scope, content, delivery, and outcomes of agricultural extension. The conclusion that agricultural extension has consistently remained out of sync with the needs and aspirations of stallholder farmers was reached. Smallholder farmers are now calling for new agricultural extension delivery models that are truly farmer-led, indigenous knowledge-based, context-specific, culturally-relevant and environmentally-sustainable to guarantee efficient farming systems into the future.
16 pages, This study analysed the delivery of public agricultural extension services to the rural households of Idutywa, Eastern Cape. Primary data were collected from 75 participants. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. Results revealed that there is generally a lack of access to extension services by households in the study area. Above all, the findings showed that access to agricultural extension services is influenced by limited movements, cellphone data, household size, and a limited number of farmers for training. Based on the control and treated variables, the Average Treatment Effect Treated from Kernel, Nearest Neighbours, and Radius matching methods were found to be negative which means that if farmers did not receive the program during the pandemic, the performance and yields were going to be very poor and low. The study recommends that extension officers should be empowered with modern tools to deliver need-based agricultural extension services in the future.
14 pages, The study assessed the agricultural extension agents' climate change training needs in Abia state. Eighty-three extension agents were chosen for the study using a simple random sampling procedure. Questionnaire was used to collect data, which was then summarized using percentages, frequency counts, and the mean. The findings indicated that male agricultural extension agents comprised a majority (53%) of the state's agricultural extension agents. The average household contained between one and five members (60%). Only 10% have a master's degree, while the majority (69%) have a bachelor's degree. The average length of employment was 15 years. The study's findings indicated that there are still extension agents who are unaware of climate change (1%). Agricultural extension agents in the study area have a limited understanding of all six climate change statements. Extension agents provide significant climate change services to farmers, including technical advice on climate change ( =2.0), the establishment of Small Plot Adaptation Techniques (SPAT) to monitor the impact of climate change (=2.1), and educating farmers on appropriate agrochemicals for climate change adaptation (weed and pest control) ( =2.2). Additionally, the results indicated that understanding fundamental climate change concepts ( =3.7), utilising cultural practises to mitigate and adapt to climate impacts ( =3.4), and environmentally friendly management practises to mitigate and adapt to climate change ( =3.4) were the primary areas of need for climate change training among extension agents. Inadequate funding for training (=3.4), a lack of financial support from organizations ( =3.3), and an inability to access financial support from funders (=3.3) were the major barriers to attending climate change training for extension agents. Regular climate change seminars and training workshops for agricultural extension agents at the federal and state levels will help to improve their overall knowledge of climate change issues. The Agricultural Development Program should utilize Forth nightly training (FNT) meetings to educate extension agents about climate change issues.
18 pages, This study examined gaps in climate information within public agricultural extension in Limpopo Province, South Africa. It assessed extension officers’ climate change perceptions, knowledge and climate education. Lastly, the study examined the extension approaches for overall suitability of climate information disseminated to rural smallholder farmers. The results indicated that participants were predominately male, with tertiary education. Education levels had an influence on exposure to climate education and extension approaches in disseminating agricultural information to farmers. There is a need to retool extension officers in climate change extension work, integrating indigenous knowledge to increase suitability and acceptability of information by smallholder farmers.
19 pages, Agricultural extension service delivery remains pivotal in disseminating contemporary and innovative agricultural information, and the training and capacity building of farmers; all of which are critical to increased farmer productivity. There are several agricultural extension methods used by extension field officers to engage their target farmers; some of the contact methods used, like the individual and group methods amongst others, necessitates close interactions between both parties. As such, physical contact between persons cannot be avoided. In the current spate of COVID-19 threats to global health, there is a possible risk of human-to-human transmission of the disease. Some temporary measures like social distancing and the ban of gatherings are currently utilised by many countries to mitigate the rapid spread of the virus. The findings of several research reports showed that these restrictions negatively impacted agricultural extension service deliveries. This paper, therefore, reviewed alternative media delivery mechanisms as a probable palliative measure in sustaining the continuous delivery of agricultural information to farmers. The paper recommends intensifying the use of the electronic extension (E-extension) system. The mobile and computer/web-based platforms should be significantly harnessed (where applicable), while concurrently promoting the intense use of print media, radio, television, agricultural documentaries and instructional videos.
33 pages, A key factor in determining the future of agricultural extension efforts is ensuring that the voices of those who need to be heard are represented at all stages of the decision-making process. As agricultural extension becomes increasingly globalized, it is critical that the diversity of voices represented within capacity assessments likewise increases. Using two distinct approaches, the present study attempts to address a current gap within the extension literature specifically related to extension assessment respondent groups. First, 97 extension related assessment manuscripts were identified during a literature review and analyzed for respondent group. The results indicated most studies included only one respondent group. Among these assessments clientele and Beneficiaries and Formal Power Roles were the respondent group categories most frequently examined. Next, a primary study was conducted to identify which respondent groups should be represented in capacity assessment according to agricultural extension experts. The panelists had the highest level of agreement regarding the inclusion of extension clientele and beneficiaries within capacity assessments. However, panelists agreed that representation from outside influences and formal power roles were also important to include in the capacity assessment process. The results indicate extension networks should purposively include a diverse set of respondents when conducting assessments to ensure a comprehensive perspective is represented.
14 pages, This study explored impact of agricultural extension services on cereal production. Data were collected through a semi-structured questionnaire from a random sample of 262 farmers from four regions (east, west, north, and south) in Bhutan. Farmers assessed the impact of extension services on five aspects of cereal production (cereal seed, social, environmental, production, and marketing aspects). Percentages and an ordered logistic model were used to analyze the data. The study found a low level of farmers’ participation in extension services. The social aspect of cereal production was the most impacted by the extension programmes, while the marketing aspect was the least impacted. The farmers’ cultivated dry land (Coeff. = 0.21) and wetland (Coeff. = 0.72), their participation in extension services (Coeff. = 0.61), and the extra labour (Coeff. = 0.24) significantly contributed to cereal production. The provision of effective and high-quality extension programs by extension agents is critical for smallholder farmers to enhance their agricultural production.
