CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Agriculture has been recognized as the most important sector of the economy of developing countries. Development in this sector have therefore, frequently attracted attention of governments, scholars, and citizens of these countries as well as international organizations from developed countries (Nelson 1982)

This has been particularly true in Nigeria where declining productivity and rising population in the last two decades have led to a growing concern over the requirement and opportunity for agricultural development. In response, the government has established a number of agricultural development programs, research centers and capital intensive agricultural schemes as systematic efforts to raise production. In addition, the world bank has been brought into the sense and has established integrated rural development projects in many parts of the country (Anthnio 1972). However, less effort has been invested in research to design and implement effective extension programmes that the appropriated to the needs of the masses and peasant farmers. These farmers are producers of the bulk of the country’s food and raw materials.

This study examines the role and the importance of extension agents in Kaduna state of Nigeria. In particular, the role performance of agricultural extension workers in some local government areas of Kaduna state.

Agriculture in Nigeria is considered as a back ground of the country’s economy even, during the oil boom era. Its major contributions are several. Firstly it provides much of the food and raw material such as cotton, leather, rubber etc. For the country’s consumption for instance at independence, in 1960 about 70 percent of Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP) was attributable to agriculture. However, in 1980, the proportions has been altered by the increasing contributions of manufacturing the oil industry and other economic sector. Agriculture now contributes less than 20 percent of the GNP

Secondly, it provide employment for about 70 percent of the labour force in the country. Thirdly it provide exports for earning foreign exchange for the country import of industrial equipment and other requirement for example in 1960, agricultural commodities accounted for close to 90 percent of export values. In the early 1970s, agriculture contributed to about 33 percent, of the total national export (Anthnio 1972) By 1980, however, agricultural exports accounted for only about 5 percent of total exports (Nelson 1092)

Fourthly, it has been a significant source of capital accumulation. That is, agriculture generates internal capital through export duty. Marketing board surplus and saving which has contributed to the financing of investment in other industries and services

Fifthly, it has provide a source of income for the masses of families with which to purchase manufactured products and other services essential for better living. Evidently, all of these contribution have been declining in magnitude and quality. For example, in the early 1960’s, Nigeria was a net exporter of food crops such as oil palm, groundnuts and cocoa and other agricultural products like cotton and rubber. By the early 1970’s Nigeria was importing food from 1968 to 1978, Nigeria’s food import bill increased for U.S $ 59 million to U.S $  1,805 to million (Central bank of Nigeria 1971, 1979).

Even with this turn around,  the agricultural sector still represent a large proportion of total national production of Nigeria, producing for example, 80 percent of the food consumed (Anthnio 1972). However, it is quite apparent that there has been a fast and steady decline in production in recent years. For example, although the federal government’s projections of food demands, supplies and deficits by 1982 suggested that domestic supply of crop and crop products was growing at about 0.79 percent per annum, estimates by Abalu and Afala (1982) suggested that per capital growth of agricultural output in the country had been declining at an average rate of about 2.5 percent per year. Since 1970 and it was very likely that the per capital growth of agriculture in the country would continue its decline. Expert explanations of this decline point to several reason, the major ones of which are the rapidly growing population, rural to urban migration, inflation and undervaluation of agriculture interms of production research and extension

Statement of the Problem   

Basically, planned agricultural development involves three system, namely, innovative, communicative and practitioner systems (Coughenour 1968). The innovative system is responsible for generating or adapting new technologies, the communicative system disseminates the technologies to the practitioner and the practitioner utilizes the technologies to improve his/her quality of life

In this development chain, the responsibility of the communicative system is critical in terms of its Linkage position between the innovative and the practitioner systems.

Thus the success of development efforts would depend largely on the efficiency and effectiveness of the communication system in disseminating new technologies and providing adequate feed back to the innovative system for further research and necessary modifications. The communicative system can also play a major role in identifying problems of farmers and communicating them to the innovative system.

Agricultural extension in developed countries is an important communication system. Although it has great and obvious potential contribution for agricultural and rural development in developing countries, agricultural extension seems to be relatively ineffective. It has been widely accepted that the performance of agricultural extension systems in developing countries have fallen short of expectation (Selmhz, 1967, Kincaid, 1968, Nyerere 1968). Kingshotte 1980, Iwueke and Findlay 1980, Freire 1974, lele 1975, kingshotte 1980, Iwueke and Findlay 1980, Nweke 1981, Aknbode 1982, Wang 1983, Moore 1984). A general impression has been created that extension system in developing countries are “Sick babies” which have not been able to generate much adoption of improved agricultural technologies and improvements in agriculture and rural life.

In Kaduna state of Nigeria, for example, the few studies conducted like those of Voh, 1979 and Atala 1980 found a wide gap between awareness and adoption of improved agricultural technologies among farmers in the state

The situation suggested that the role performance of extension agents is problematic and contributes to the general malaise in Nigerian agriculture. One of the key issues in the effectiveness of Nigerian agricultural extension is role impact. The role and impacts of extension agents activities are highly and often ineffective. The question becomes one of explaining the differential roles and impacts. This provides the rationale for focusing on the extension delivery system.

The situation further suggests that deficiencies in the extension system are explainable from a role theory perspective, in which case an organization theory perspective is also warranted. Both role and organization theories offer the conceptional tools for appreciating the problems and potentialities of the change agent agency. They may therefore, also reveal where effective intervention might be indicated.

Unfortunately, in spite of the low impression about extension system in developing countries, extension work has received little attention (Williams 1978). The primary reason seems to be the lack of understanding of the need for it (Umali, 1972)

In Nigeria, not much scientific research has been done in agricultural extension to identify the problems and to find solution to them. Rather, studies in agricultural extension and rural sociology have tended to concentrate attention adoption behavior of farmers while over looking the actual performance and the impact of the extension agents and the extension organization itself. Therefore there is the need for studies beyond adoption and diffusion.

Specifically, the role and role impact of the extension agent have not been systematically studied. Therefore, it is still unclear what the role, the role performance and the impact of the extension agent are and the degree to which these are affected by related factors

Significance of the study

Basically, the study is undertaken to provide data and analytical guidelines for understanding and improving the performance of agricultural extension in Kaduna state. The study may also have implications of Nigeria in general.

Scientific information about the extension agent’s role is generally scanty. Specifically, there is a paucity of data on the perception the performance and the impact of extension agent’s roles. Factors influencing agents perceptions, consensus, performance and impact are largely speculative. Also, no indications of the varied significance and their inter-relationships have been provided.

There is, therefore, a research information gap. Research information on these aspects would help in understanding some of the problems and challenges faced by  agents. Such information is essential for a proper assessment of the needs and potential of the extension agents and the farmers they serve. It could also form the basis for improving the quality of extension work and agricultural communication and subsequently, farmers adoption of improved technology and agricultural development.

This, the findings of the study may have policy value. In this sense, policy value. In this sense, policies and planning designed with irrespective to the research data and analysis, in term of which variables to manipulate an where to give priority, should help in improving extension agents performance and benefit the farmers subsequently.

Purpose of the study

The purpose of the study is to assess the agricultural extension workers in enhancing farmers yields in some selected local government Area in Kaduna state. Specifically, the study is designed to:-

1.   Find out level of adequacy of training given to extension workers

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