Analysis of farm management extension services performed by extension agents of Agricultural Development Projects in Southwest Nigeria

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.