ISSN 2360-798X
Abstract
Accepted 12th August, 2019.
This study assessed the constraints and perceived training needs of community leadership in promoting agricultural extension programmes in kebbi state. A Multi stage sampling technique was employed to draw a sample of 352 respondents from kebbi state comprising eight LGAs. A set of structured questionnaires were used to obtain information from the respondents. Descriptive statistics, and Logit regression analysis were used for data analysis. The result of the study showed that majority (95.5%) were male while (4.5%) were females respectively. The research study found out that 33.2% had access to extension services while 66.8% does not have access to extension services. Similarly, the research study unveiled that 43.4% respondents had leadership experience of between 10-19 years while the lowest category of leaders of 0-9 year’s leadership experience constituted 4.5%. The survey further identified that 93.8% of respondents were involved in decision making process regarding programmes and projects of community interest,93.5% and 89.0% respectively showed the percentage of respondents who were into community mobilization and project legitimization while the least 3.1% of the level of involvement of community leaders in agricultural extension service delivery. The study further revealed that 8.82% mean rank of the respondents determined feasible agricultural extension programmes, 8.73 were into consulting community members prior to project implementation, 8.70 and another 8.70 mean rank of the respondents performed roles of monitoring and evaluation of agricultural extension programmes and making decisions on different issues relating to agricultural extension programmes. Logit regression analysis showed that the coefficient of coordinating all agricultural extension programmes (0.18) positively and significantly influenced leadership role performance at 5%level of significance. Similarly, the estimated coefficient of t-value of ensuring cordial relationship among farmers (109) and ensuring all assistance from government and non-governmental organizations reaches farmers (303) significantly influenced leadership role performance in the study area. The study also unveiled that 7.1%,9.7 and 8.5% representing farmer training, provision of credit facility and provision of agro-input respectively were some of the extension roles performed by leaders in the study area while the extension approaches adopted were training and visit 9.7%,community specialized extension 9.9%,farm research extension 9.7% and participatory extension 9.1%. It is concluded that community leaders in the study area performed significant roles of decision making process, coordinating all agricultural extension programmes, project legitimization and monitoring and evaluation of programmes which impacted positively on the livelihood of the farmers. It is recommended that rural community leaders should be given enough reward in order to sustain their interest and perception of their ascribed roles in agricultural extension programmes, more female should be encouraged to perform leadership roles in agricultural extension activities, provision of extension services to farmers in groups should be encouraged by the local leaders due to scarcity of AEAS, provision of extension services through non-visits such as radio and television programmes should be intensified by community leaders, organizing refresher courses and in-service training for community.
Keywords: Constraints, Training needs, Rural community leaders, Leadership styles, Extension programmes, Kebbi State.