Inclusion of ecological sustainable development themes into agricultural extension education programme: content and delivery methods

Abstract

The continuous adoption of unsustainable ecological practices by farmers on land resources threatens sustainable development in agricultural production. With increase in population and agricultural intensification, ecological problems such as erosion, deforestation, overgrazing, low yields of agricultural produce among others may be on the increase if farmers are not very conscious of their activities on land. This study determined the extent of inclusion of ecological sustainable development themes and methods used in teaching these content areas to farmers in the agricultural extension outreach programme of Cross River State. Two research questions were answered and two hypotheses were tested. The study adopted descriptive survey research design and was carried out in Cross River State with a sample of 250 comprising 180 registered farmers and 70 extension personnel. The researchers used mixed method of data collection involving quantitative and qualitative approaches. A 38-item structured questionnaire was used in collecting the quantitative data, while focused group discussions (FGD) and content analysis were used in generating qualitative data. The instrument was face validated by three experts and Cronbach Alpha reliability index of 0.84 was estimated. Out of 250 copies of questionnaire administered, 246 copies were retrieved and analyzed using mean, standard deviation and independent t-test statistic to answer the research questions and test the null hypotheses at p>.05. The study found out that 15 ecological sustainable development themes were included as content areas into the agricultural extension outreach programme of Cross River State while only 7extension teaching methods out of 22 were used in teaching the farmers in the programme. It was recommended that Cross River Agricultural Development Programme should ensure that ESD themes not fully included into agricultural extension programme are integrated and taught to farmers while enabling conditions are made to facilitate individual contacts of extension personnel with farmers to reasonably convince them and prepare them for sustainable ecological resource use and conservation.