THE IMPACT OF TRAINING AND VISIT EXTENSION SYSTEM ON AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN KATSINA STATE
THE IMPACT OF TRAINING AND VISIT EXTENSION SYSTEM ON AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN KATSINA STATE
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Date
1996-08
Authors
MAGAJI, ABUBAKAR BAKORI
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Abstract
This study«was designed to assess the impact of training
and visit 'extension system on agricultural development in
Katsina State. A sample of 150 household heads was randomly
drawn, out of which 124 responded to the interview, which was
carried out in six local government areas within the three
zones of the Katsina State Agricultural and Rural Development
Authority (KTARDA), namely: Daura and Zango Local Government
Areas in Zone I, Funtua and Bakori in Zone II and Dutsin-Ma
and Batsari in Zone 111.
The data collected in these areas showed an improvement
on the production of agricultural products and standard of
living of the farmers in the study area compared with the
years before the T&V was introduced.
The T&V also indicated higher involvement of all the
sectors of agricultural developments. The structure and
management of the T&V system was moderately adjusted to suit
the need of the organization and brought about reduction in
the cost of managing extension activities, shortened the
bureaucratic aspects of the extension and provided greater
involvement of all the sectors of agricultural development.
Furthermore, the aggregate farm products in 1991 (year
of study) is slightly higher than that ot 1904 (before the
T&V was introduced). This might be due to the influence otthe
T&V introduced.
The study indicated that there were more small-scale
producers in 1991 than the 1984. The cost of production was
observed to have influenced the farmers' decision on whether
to embark on small scale or large scale production.
The awareness, adoption/diffusion rate among the five
categories, viz large, medium and small-scale, contact and
non-contact farmers in the state was generally high,
especially within the contact groups and the large-scale
farmers.
On determining the impact of T&Vs on agricultural
development, the rate of awareness and adoption of six
recommended improved seeds of cowpea, millet, maize, sorghum,
groundnuts and cotton were considered. Majority of the
respondents indicated their awareness by above one-half of
all the respondents, while the adoption rate was relatively
low in four crops out of the six listed.
The awareness rate of maize was indicated by most (98%)
of the respondents, with two-third (66%) adoption rate in
1984 as against (65%) in 1991. While cotton was grown by all
the respondents (100%) in 1984 with only two-fifth (41%) in
1991 .
The women's participation in agricultural development
was generally higher and on the increase especially among the
young farmers with the introduction of women's associations,
and Better Life programmes.
The introduction of Women in Agriculture (WIA) staff
posted to all the blocks within the state for effective
coverage, also brought about higher involvement of all
sectors among the women folks.
The finding of the Pearson Correlation analyses also
indicated that the independent variables showed very low
contribution to dependent variables. In the whole analyses
only six independent variables showed their significant
relationship to dependent variables, in the. four different
analyses.
Both variables contributed directly or indirectly to the
agricultural development, and the impact of T&Vs but is
sometimes hard to measure. For future research of this kind,
better operationalisation of variables should be looked for
as there are many of them.
Description
A thesis submitted to the Postgraduate School, Ahmadu Bello
University, Zaria, in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the Degree of Master of Science in Agricultural Extension and
Rural Sociology
Department of Agricultural Economics & Rural Sociology
Ahmadu Bello University
Zaria, Nigeria
Keywords
IMPACT,, TRAINING,, VISIT,, EXTENSION,, SYSTEM,, AGRICULTURAL,, DEVELOPMENT,, KATSINA STATE