Farmers’ perception of their level of participation in extension in Ethiopia: policy implications

Abstract

This study examined farmers’ perception of their level of participation in Public Agricultural Extension Service (PAES) in Soddo-zuria Woreda in Southern Ethiopia vis-à-vis seven selected farmers’ characteristics; namely, sex, age, educational status, wealth status, farming experience, experience with extension and frequency of contact with extension agents. For this study, 225 farmers were randomly selected and interviewed with a semi-structured questionnaire. The study showed that farmers in Soddozuria Woreda perceived their level of participation to be low, and had significant correlation with sex, educational status, wealth status and frequency of contact with extension agents. Female, illiterate and poor farmers’ perception of participation in the PAES was found to be lower than their male, literate and resource-rich counterparts. In a regression analysis, sex, educational status and wealth status explained 42.2% of the variance in farmers’ perceived level of participation in the PAES, with educational status alone contributing about 35%. To enhance farmers’ participation in the PAES, the Soddo-zuria Woreda Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Development need to properly mainstream gender, combine pro-poor development strategies and integrate literacy programmes into the routine extension activities