Suchergebnisse

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.

Abstract— The paper critically examines the political economy of agricultural development in Northern Nigeria. The agriculture resource has been a significant sector in the Nigerian economy in the past decades, and is still a key sector regardless of the oil boom; principally it provides employment opportunities for the teeming population, eradicates poverty and contributes momentously to the growth of the economy. The Agricultural sector suffered neglect during the hey-days of the oil boom in the 1970s. However, sustained economic development cannot be achieved without economic growth. Consequently, economic growth is necessary for sustained economic development. In the same vein, given the enormous resource endowment both in human capital and natural resources available in Nigeria, the performance of the Northern Nigeria economy has been far below expectation. Consequently, the contributions of agriculture to economic growth can be examined through the roles of the sector in the economy. The most direct contribution of agriculture to economic growth is to increase in incomes of smallholder farmers and therefore their purchasing power. The economic growth in Nigeria depends to a large extent on growth in the agriculture sector. However, the article reveals some factors that negatively impacting agricultural development in Nigeria include land tenure systems; increasing populations and constantly decreasing farmland size; inadequate of capital particularly for the adoption of improved agricultural technology; never-ending conflicts in the Northern Nigeria; throng rural-urban migration; low level of education; systemic corruption of government officials; excessive dependence of oil economy to the exclusion of agricultural economy; unfavourable economic development policies; inadequate infrastructure among others.

This study is an investigation into underage labour in Nigeria with specific focus on street hawkers in Kosofe Local Government Area of Lagos State. The study employed a cross-sectional descriptive study in which one hundred and fifty (150) hawkers and fifteen (15) adult traders constituted the sample. The data was obtained via the use of questionnaire and in-depth interview while the data was analyzed using student 't' test statistic. The three research hypotheses that guided the study were tested at 5% level of significance and the result revealed that there is a significant relationship between poor parental economic background and involvement of underage in street hawking, parental/guardian occupation does not significantly influence the involvement of underaage in street hawking and there is a significant relationship between street hawking and academic performance of the underage. The study concluded that government and Nigerians should therefore, practically demonstrate their commitment to the global fight against child labour in which street hawking amongst underage has become a social stigma to the country especially in the major towns and cities through poverty eradication to enable each household carter for their family needs contrary to the current practice where children engage in street hawking to help boost their family financial status while free compulsory basic education to all children with free meals should be introduced/provided by the government to cater for children from poor socio-economic background while public enlightenment campaign against street hawking should be vigorously pursued.

Abstract— Considering the important role extension agents perform in the rural community, potential exists to measure the performance of extension workers from the smallholder perspective. The study investigated farmers' perceptions of agricultural extension agents' performance in Kaduna State, Nigeria. Data were collected with structured questionnaires distributed to 200 rural smallholder farmers and 20 agricultural extension agents using a multiple stage sampling technique. The main aim of the study was to evaluate the performance of extension agents on agricultural production. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Chi-square analysis was used to test significant relationship between farmers' perception regarding the role of extension services and increase in crop production. The result of the socio and demographic characteristics of the farmers showed that more than half (59%) are within the active age and are married and had one form of education or the other. The estimated chi-square value of 12.84 revealed that there is no statistical significant relationship between extension services and increase in crop production among farmers in the study area. In addition, majority (89%) of the respondents perceived lack of regular contacts with extension agents as a great challenge in the area, while a large proportion (82%) of the respondents reported that extension services was not effective in the area. However, since contact with extension agents was ineffective, the results obtained showed that smallholder farmers preferred traditional ICT, mainly radio (63%) as their main source of accessing agricultural information. The study however recommends that government should employ and train more agricultural graduates. 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 Kaduna State, Nigeria.