Assessment of Agricultural Extension Students’ Interest in Providing Private Extension Services in Nigeria

Abstract

Purpose: Agricultural extension graduates do not get jobs and farmers are not getting agricultural extension services, and therefore, both the farmers and agricultural graduates do not receive benefi ts. The study assessed the interest of agricultural extension students in providing private extension services to farmers, examined their perception towards private extension services and identifi ed extension skills possessed by the students. Research Method: The study comprised all the fi nal year students in the Universities in Osun State. A two – stage sampling procedure was used to select the respondents. One university was selected from each category of federal, state and private. A total of 68 respondents were selected and interviewed. Data collected were analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings: The results show that the mean age, mean years of formal education of the respondents were 23.75 ± 2.02 and 17.40 ± 1.16, respectively. About half (51.5%) of the respondents had positive perception towards the private extension service while 57 percent had high interest in providing private extension services. Majority of them possessed teaching skills (97.1%), innovation dissemination skills (95.5%) and communication skills (88.2%). Also, sources of agricultural information available (χ2=22.448), types of sponsors (χ2=6.102) and marital status (χ2=16.535) had a signifi cant association with respondents’ interest in providing private agricultural extension services. Research Limitation: The study focuses on the interest of agricultural extension graduates to provide private extension services; however, these graduates may have an interest in other areas that have not been investigated. Original Value: The study provides an insight to show the interest and capability of agricultural students to be engaged in private extension services as a livelihood.