Organisational Capacities And Management Of Agricultural Extension Services In Nigeria: Current Status

Abstract

Organisational capacity and management are critical elements of extension systems. This paper examines the organisational capacity and management of the Nigerian extension system. Content analysis of documents and artefacts, semi-structured interviews with key informants, and site visits were used to collect data. The paper looks at individual, organisational, and system-level capacities and management systems. The current ratio of extension agents to farmers is between 1:5000 and 1:10 000, with a total workforce of about 7000 public agents. A new initiative, the N-Power programme, is employing 100 000 young graduates in extension. Financing provided by state governments typically only covers the salaries of extension staff, meaning there is little operational budget for travel, communication, training, or field programmes. States thus struggle to hire and provide incentives for staff, and most continuing education and incentives take place in donor-funded projects or with federal funds. The extension system has good support from policies and strategies, as well as from research, education, and donor programmes. The paper confirms that capacity and management issues are critically important for well-functioning extension systems, and that there are many elements to get right, including continuing education, incentives, coordination, and operational budgets.

Appraisal of cowpea cropping systems and farmers’ perceptions of production constraints and preferences in the dry savannah areas of Nigeria

“…Contact with extension workers helps in educating and guiding farmers on improved cowpea technologies and practices. Earlier reports have indicated low farmers to Extension ratio (1:5,000-10,000 ratio) in Nigeria (Huber et al 2017;Davis et al 2019) compared to the recommendation of one agent per 800-1000 farm families for effective service delivery. Agricultural inputs use and advisory services are important for providing guides to smallholder farmers on crop management practices (Belt et al 2015).…”

National extension policy and state-level implementation: The case of Cross River State, Nigeria

“…However, the effectiveness of the ADPs declined significantly soon after the World Bank withdrew its sponsorship (Iwuchukwu and Igbokwe 2012;Agber, Iortima, and Imbur 2013;Issa 2013;Hamisu et al 2017). Auta and Dafwang (2010) and Inegbedion et al (2018) suggested that the state ADPs in Nigeria were classified as having weak sources of funding, while Davis, Lion, and Arokoyo (2019) argued that there has been no improvement in terms of funding because there is little or no effort to diversify the sources of funding for agricultural extension services, at either the federal or state level. Mbang (2015) showed that the state government is the major source of financing in the Cross River State agricultural sector.…”

Examining the Relationship Between the use of Mobile Phones and Extension Methods in Adoption of Groundnut Farming Practices in Northwestern Nigeria

“…Additionally, weak extension delivery has become prevalent manifestation of farmers' low outputs that may have connection with irregular training of extension agents. In line with this, Davis et al (2019) found that, at present, the extension service in Nigeria seems to be very weak and farmers are very much on their own because of the weak output of the extension advisory services.…”