SMALL-SCALE FARMERS PERCEPTION OF FARMER -TO-FARMER EXTENSION NETWORK IN PAIKORO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF NIGER STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study was conducted in Paikoro local government area of Niger State. The study examined the small scale farmer’s perception of farmer-to-farmer extension network with the aim of examining its validity and the constraints associated with it. Majority of the respondents (96.3%) are in their very active age of between 30-49 years, and majority (82.5%) of them are male. The study also reveals that majority (73.3%) of the respondents had one form of education or the other, majority (92.5%) were also married with 95% being small scale farmers. About 50% of the respondents had moderate household size. Farmer-to-farmer source of information ranked 1st as source of information preferred by the respondents, followed by contact farmers/cooperative leaders and farmers organization and their staff as 2nd and 3rd respectively. The farmers also perceived all the positive attribute of farmer-tofarmer extension network as relevant to them and agreed strongly with all the attributes listed. The following socio-economic characteristics of the respondents: household size, education level and farming experience had significant relationships with the farmers’ perception about farmer-to-farmer extension network and marital status. Age and farm size had no significant relation with farmers’ perception. On the bases of the above it is recommended that training of farmers organization leaders and staff should be encouraged, training of trainers programmes should be enhanced and farmers level of education should be improved up on to facilitate farmer-to-farmer extension network as a major source of information to small scale farmers.