Rural Amenity–Based: A Veritable Tool to Enhance Extension Agents’ Effectiveness in Delivering Information on Cassava Production to Rural Farmers for Food Security in Delta State

Abstract

effectiveness in delivering information on cassava production to rural farmers for food security in Delta State. Three purposes and three research questions guided the study. Three hypotheses also guided the study. The work specifically adopted a survey research design. The population of the study was 200 which consisted of 120 extension agents and 80 agricultural education lecturers in tertiary institutions of Delta State. There was no sampling because the whole population was of the manageable size. The questionnaire was face validated by three experts from agricultural Education Department, federal College of Education (Technical) Asaba, Delta State. The instrument used for data collection was questionnaire tagged ‘’veritable tool to enhance extension agents’ effectiveness in delivering information on cassava production to rural farmers questionnaire’’ (VTEEAEDICPRFQ) consisting of 27 items was developed from the literature and used as the instrument for data collection. The scale for questionnaire was: Strongly Agreed (SA)-4, Agreed (A)-3, Disagreed (D)-2, Strongly Disagreed (SD)-1. 200 copies of the questionnaire were distributed to respondents but 193 copies were returned which was at 97% return rate. The data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviations to answer the research questions while the hypothesis was tested using t-test, at a confidence level of 0.05 significant. The result of analysis showed that electronic audio-visual aids using electricity, provision of accommodation in the rural areas and construction of good road network can enhance extension agents’ effectiveness in delivering information to rural farmers on cassava production for food security in Delta State. The result of t-test showed that there were no significant differences in mean responses of extension agents and lecturers (p>0.05). Based on the result of the study, it is recommended that Delta State government should provide amenities in the rural areas such as good road network, electricity and comfortable accommodation to the rural areas to enhance extension agents’ effectiveness.