Influence of demographic factors on training transfer of agricultural risk management in Uganda

The decline in agriculture sector’s contribution to sub-Saharan Africa economies is attributed to risks and uncertainties that are experienced at every node of the agricultural value chain. This has attracted both government and non-government institutions to place considerable effort on holistic agricultural risk management. Among the matched strategies of mitigating agricultural risk is to improve extension workers’ knowledge, skills, abilities and attitudes through training in holistic agriculture risk management who in turn are expected to help out small holder farmers to mitigate agriculture related risks. As such, the the ministry of Agriculture animal industry and fisheries in partnership with Makerere University and the Platform for agriculture risk management (PARM) organized a training on holistic agricultural risk management for its extension staff across the country with a view that they will transfer the knowledge acquired in the training to enable small holder farmers manage production, market, institutional, personal and financial risks. One significant way of accessing success of any training is training transfer. The objective of this study was to determine the role of demographic factors (age, education level, job type, management responsibility) in influencing the transfer of agricultural risk management training skills among extension workers in Uganda. A study was conducted in Uganda involving 281 respondents using the Learning Transfer Systems Inventory (LTSI) as an instrument to predict training transfer. Multiple analysis of variances was used to answer the specific issues of the study. Level of education, job type and age were the main factors that influenced transfer of agricultural risk management training skills in Uganda. Respondents with lower level of education level, had higher performance outcome expectations from the training, performance coaching and learner readiness. Furthermore, environmental officers needed more performance coaching than the fisheries officers. As for age, irrespective of education level and job type, young agriculture extension workers (less than 5 years) perceived higher performance self-efficacy and personal outcomes negative than those outside the age bracket. Examination of the management responsibility trainees have over their subordinates indicated that trainees with managerial roles perceived more opportunity to use the risk management skills where as those with no managerial responsibility perceived content validity to have helped them to transfer the skills. Hence, improvement of the transfer of training within the agricultural sector will require prior attention given to the unique demographic differences among extension workers (trainees) that should inform transfer strategies. Key words: Extension workers, LTSI, risks, transfer of training, trainees, Uganda