Factors hindering extension staffs efficiency in assisting maize farmers in western province in the agricultural reform era
Abstract
183 words
The extension service in Kenya is charged with the responsibility
of ensuring sustainable food production that is sufficient for
domestic use and for export. The extension staff performance
is constrained by various factors which may have been
exacerbated by the introduction of agricultural reforms resulting
from Structural Adjustment Programme, hence the study. An
ex-post facto research design was used, based on a one-time
cross sectional survey to find factors responsible for the poor
extension services in Western Kenya. One hundred (100)
extension staff from Western Province of Kenya were asked
to respond to questionnaires containing both open and closed
ended questions. Data were analysed using percentages and
cross tabulations using statistical package for social sciences
(SPSS) version 11.0 for windows. The results revealed that
the extension service in Western Province of Kenya has been
constrained as a result of week farmer-extension-research
linkages, lack of incentives for extension staff, lack of adequate
facilitation and reduced number of extension staff. It was recommended that efforts by the Kenya government, Nongovernmental
organisations and development partners be
directed towards improving funding of the extension service in
Kenya.
Subjects
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