Cost-sharing of agricultural extension service: What patterns are most effective in Nigeria?

With recent changes in the financing and delivery of agricultural extension service worldwide due to inability of some governments to cope with varied needs of clients, most reforms initiated tend towards a pluralistic approach and financial participation of all stakeholders. Cost-sharing, which is a system where beneficiaries of a service pay user fees is one of the options strongly considered by stakeholders as a sustainability strategy with the potential to generate resources for technology transfers and best practices in agriculture for increased productivity and income. Cost-sharing strategy is an emerging model being practised in both developed and developing countries. The author examined stakeholders’ (extension professionals and farmers) opinions on the appropriate patterns for cost-sharing of agricultural extension service in Nigeria. The study was carried out in six geopolitical zones of Nigeria between 2006 and 2007. Multistage random sampling technique was applied in the selection of respondents. A sample size of 268 farmers and 272 extension professionals participated in the study. Mean scores and t-test statistics were used in data analysis. Results show that the stakeholders’ overall opinion on the appropriate pattern for cost-sharing was that beneficiaries of a service should pay specified amounts to the extension organization every farming season through their cooperative societies. Results further show that there were significant difference in the opinions of both farmers and extension professionals on some patterns for cost-sharing with farmers having more ideas for sharing costs of extension services than the extension professionals. It was concluded that for cost-sharing to be effective, all the stakeholders have to participate in decision-making and implementation processes in the agricultural extension system.