Constraints Associated with Organic Farming Practices among Vegetable Farmers in Southwestern Nigeria (Published)
Organic farming is a production system that sustains the health of soils, ecosystem and people. Hence, constraints associated with organic farming practices among vegetable farmers were investigated in Southwestern Nigeria. A multi stage sampling procedure was used to select 94 respondents for the study. Data were collected with interview schedule and analysed using descriptive (percentages and mean score) and inferential (PPMC) statistics. Results revealed that majority of the respondents had an average farm size of 0.61±0.92 hectares, 12.52±0.68 years of farming experience, and all (100.0%) had contact with extension agents. Major means for receiving information on organic farming were extension agents/volunteers (=1.32), fellow farmers (x̅=1.22) and radio (x̅=1.20). More than two-thirds (68.1%) had high knowledge of organic farming practices, while constraints associated with organic farming were climate change issue (x̅=1.94), poorly organised markets for organic products (x̅=1.89) and high capital investment (x̅=1.83). A significant relationship was observed between knowledge and constraints associated with organic farming (r=0.299, p=0.041). Given that knowledge constituted a vital factor associated with organic farming practices, along with the fact that all the respondents had contact with extension agents, training programmes should be regularly organised by extension agents on climate change issue and also to disseminate technologies on organic farming practices to farmers to further update and enhance farmers’ knowledge on organic agriculture.
Keywords: Organic farming, extension agents, farmers’ knowledge, technologies
Influence of Characteristics and Perception on Usage of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) By Selected Extension Agents in Northern Nigeria (Published)
This paper presents the results of investigation into the influence of the perception of Village Extension Agents (VEAs)’ on usage of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in three selected States Agricultural Development Projects (ADPs) of Nigeria. Two hundred and four (204) VEAs were sampled as respondents for the study. With aid of Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) the data were analyzed and the descriptive statistics were used to present the results. Results of Multiple Linear Regression analysis revealed that usage of ICT was statistically and positively significant on: income (0.039*), sex (0.007**), accessibility to ICT (0.000***) and perception on custom/tradition (0.021*) and perception on availability of infrastructural facilities (0.047*). These variables, by implication, are factors that influenced the usage of ICT by the VEAs in the study areas.
Keywords: Agriculture, Perception, extension, extension agents, technologies and communication