The study assessed the perceived effectiveness of agricultural extension methods used to disseminate improved technologies to rice farmers in kogi state, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to describe the socio – economic characteristics of the rice farmers, to assessed farmers level of contact with extension agents, perceived level of competence of extension agents to perform agricultural extension activities and farmers perception on the effectiveness of agricultural extension methods in the study area. Primary and secondary data were used for the study. Data were collected using a well structured questionnaire from 212 rice farmers in the study area. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results showed that 59.9% of the respondents were male, with a mean age of 43.5 years. Majorities (58%) of the respondents were married and about 44.3% of them had more than 20 years of farming experience. About 99.1% of the farmers were aware of the existence of extension agents in their area and 87.7% were visited fortnightly. Also, extension agents were perceived to be more competent in performing field demonstration activities and the individual contact method was perceived as the most effective extension teaching method in the study area. It is recommended that the extension agents should do more in contacting more female rice farmers as well as male rice farmers; the extension agents should use variety of extension methods appropriately in order to meet specific extension objectives and to ensure effective use of limited resources, personnel, time and fund which ensure farmers participation. پرونده مقاله

The study analyzed farm management extension services (FMESs) performed by the extension agents of Agricultural Development Projects in South West Nigeria. Study representatives were sampled randomly from Oyo ADP, Osun ADP and Ekiti ADP, making a 50% representation of the South-West. A proportionate sample of 80% of the total of the extension agents in each of the 3 case studies was randomly selected; making a total sample of 164 respondents for the study. Data were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics such as frequency counts, percentages and mean. Findings revealed that majority (76.8%) of the respondents were males, had higher certificates than ND (92.7%) and supervised more than 199 farmers (61.6%). However, more than half of the respondents were still new in the extension work with working experience of between 1-10 years (55.5%). The results further showed that only few of the change agents performed farm management tasks related to finance and marketing. The major constraints facing the extension agents in performing FMESs in the study area were lack of incentives, farmers’ illiteracy and inadequate training ranking 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively. This study recommends that extension agents should be trained more in the core aspects of FMESs which include linkage to finance and marketing. Also, extension professionals should be well motivated with incentives to ensure that FMESs are adequately rendered to their clients for increased productivity. پرونده مقاله