Effectiveness of agricultural extension education methods on adoption of innovations among small-scale rice farmers

Abstract

The study examined the effectiveness of agricultural extension education methods used to teach small-scale rice farmer in Doko Local Government Area of Niger State in Nigeria. Data was collected by scheduled interview questionnaire from eight (8) extension cells of Doko extension block. A total of 160 farmers from eight villages were purposely and randomly selected. The data was analyzed using simple descriptive statistics such as percentage, frequency distribution and chi-square respectively. it was observed that 32.2 % of the respondents had no formal education, 50 % had Quranic and primary education, while only 17.5 % had secondary and post secondary education. Considering the extension method used to reach the small-scale rice farmer, 87.5 % of the respondents said that they had listened to farm radio programmes, 41.88 % of the respondents said that they had visited demonstration plots and adopted the new rice innovations. The calculated chi-square value 142.5 showed significant difference (tP = 0.05) in rice yield per hectare of these participating farmers. Specific education programmes should be organized to train farmer on the correct use of recommended innovations for rice production.