EFFECTIVENESS OF TRADITIONAL EXTENSION MODELS AMONG RURAL DWELLERS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICAN COMMUNITIES

This article examines the factors influencing the effectiveness of traditional extension models among rural dwellers in Sub-Saharan African communities. The study was conducted in two rural communities in Kaduna State, Nigeria. The representative sample involved 200 randomly selected smallholder farmers. In addition, 20 extension workers were purposively selected from four institutions that provide extension and advisory services in Nigeria. The study used focus group discussions, in-depth interviews and structured questionnaires to collect relevant information. Data were analyzed using statistical software. The overall findings revealed that the current extension services in the study area are ineffective and inefficient to meet the needs of rural farmers. In the same vein, almost all the extension worker participants unanimously reported that after the withdrawal of World Bank funding to Agricultural Development Project (ADP), the Federal Government of Nigeria finds it extremely difficult to independently fund the extension and advisory services. Moreover, 69.5% of the smallholder farmers indicated that they had no visit/contact with extension agents in the last one year, while 86% reported that extension service delivery was not effective in the area. Also, exceptionally low numbers of extension workers and poor funding were ranked as the fundamental challenges confronting extension services in the area. Base on this, it is recommended that Federal and State Ministry of Agriculture should recruit more agricultural graduates youths and train them. More extension workers need to be hired in order to significantly reduce the problem of the extension workers to farm families ratio which is currently 1:3000 in the Kaduna State, Nigeria.