Arable crop farmers willingness to access private agricultural extension services in Itu Lga, Akwa Ibom State

Abstract

The study determined the crop farmer’s willingness to access private agricultural extension services in Itu Local Government Area (LGA), Akwa Ibom  State. Simple random sampling was used to select 120 registered crop farmers from the total of 1084 registered crop farmers in Itu LGA of Akwa Ibom  State. Data was collected using questionnaire and interview schedule and described with the aid of descriptive statistics namely mean, frequency and percentages. Result showed that among the crop farmers, majority (54%) were male. Mean age of the crop farmers was 49years. Majority (84%) of the  farmers were married with an average household size of 5 persons and farming experience of 21years. A small percentage (22%) of the farmers had no  formal education with 51% having at most a secondary education. Approximately 72% of the farmers are members of co-operative society. Major extension services delivered to the crop farmers by the private extension system include innovation dissemination (91.39%), assistance in formation and  registration of cooperative societies (81.72%) and assistance in identification of farm problems (79.56%). Majority (59%) of crop farmers prefer private  extension services due to the fact that the content addresses their farming problems better ( x̄ =2.6), timelier ( x̄ =2.2), possesses more appealing teaching  methods ( x̄ =2.3). Approximately 85% of the farmers are willing to pay for private extension services. Collaboration between public and private extension  system will help strengthen both systems hence improve farmers access to timely advisory services.