"The 2010 RUFORUM Biennial Conference was the second in the series. The main objective of the Biennial conferences is to provide a platform for agricultural research for development stakeholders in Africa and beyond to actively exchange findings and experiences, while at the same time learning lessons towards improving performance of the agricultural sector and ultimately people’s livelihoods. The biennial conference is RUFORUM’s most comprehensive meeting for the diversity of stakeholers in agriculture. It is especially dedicated to graduate students and their supervisors, grantees in RUFORUM member universities and alumni. It is a platform for peer review, quality control, mentorship, networking and shared learning. This record contains an extended abstract accepted under the theme socio-economics".
Factors hindering extension staffs efficiency in assisting maize farmers in western province in the agricultural reform era
Abstract:
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.
Le service de vulgarisation au Kenya est chargé d’assurer une
production alimentaire durable qui est suffisant pour un usage
domestique et pour l’exportation. La performance du personnel
de vulgarisation est limitée par différents facteurs qui peuvent
avoir été aggravée par l’introduction de réformes agricoles
résultant de programme d’ajustement structurel, d’où l’étude.
Une conception de la recherche ex post facto a été utilisé,
basé sur une enquête unique pour trouver des facteurs responsables de ce pauvre services de vulgarisation dans l’ouest
du Kenya. Cent (100) agents de vulgarisation de la province
occidentale du Kenya ont été invités à répondre à des
questionnaires contenant à la fois des questions ouvertes et
fermées. Les données ont été analysées à l’aide des
pourcentages et des tableaux croisés à l’aide du logiciel de
statistiques pour les sciences sociales (SPSS) version 11.0 pour
Windows. Les résultats ont révélé que les services de
vulgarisation dans la province occidentale du Kenya ont été
limités en raison des liens faibles entre agriculteurs, agent de
vulgarisation et chercheurs, le manque de motivation pour le
personnel de vulgarisation, le manque de facilitation appropriée
et le nombre réduit de personnel de vulgarisation. Il a été
recommandé que les efforts déployés par le gouvernement du
Kenya, des organisations non gouvernementales et les
partenaires au développement soient canalisés sur l’amélioration
du financement du service de vulgarisation au Kenya.
Language:
English
Date of publication:
2010
Country:
Region Focus:
East Africa
University/affiliation:
Collection:
RUFORUM Conferences and Workshops
Agris Subject Categories:
Agrovoc terms:
Additional keywords:
Licence conditions:
Open Access
Access restriction:
Form:
Printed resource
Publisher:
Extent:
1661-1665
Notes:
