Effect of Privatisation of Agricultural Extension Services on Productivity of Fadama III beneficiaries in Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined effect of privatisation of agricultural advisory services of Fadama III project on farmers’ productivity in Oyo state, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling procedure was adopted in selecting 146 and 144 beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries respectively. Frequency, percentage, means, PPMC and t-test were used to analyse data. Most (52.7%) of the beneficiaries had tertiary education, while 33.6% of the non-beneficiaries possessed secondary education, with respective average ages of 48.32 and 49.68. About 53% of beneficiaries accessed credit through Fadama Users Group, while 53.4% of non-beneficiaries accessed credit through commercial banks. Most of the beneficiaries obtained information on advisory services from friends (91.0%) and extension agents (89.6%), compared to non-beneficiaries from radio (95.2%) and group meetings (81.5%). Fadama III beneficiaries had higher level of access to advisory services than non-beneficiaries. Production of poultry meat (r = 0.389, p<0.05) and eggs (r = 0.322, p <0.05) were significantly influenced by beneficiaries’ access to advisory services. Level of access to advisory services was significantly higher (t =1.651, p = 0.045) for beneficiaries (mean = 9.260) than non-beneficiaries. Level of production of maize (t = 3.165, p < 0.05) cassava (t = 3.679, p <0.05) and fish (t=1.869, p < 0.05) was also higher for beneficiaries. Beneficiaries attained higher level of production for cassava, maize and fish production than non-beneficiaries. Efforts should be made to improve on the coverage of similar projects in the future.