ASSESSMENT OF THE POTENTIAL OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION DELIVERY ON GUINEA FOWL (NUMIDEA MELEAGRIS) PRODUCTION BY SMALL SCALE FARMERS IN THE UPPER EAST REGION OF GHANA

ABSTRACT

The guine fowl is an abundant species in almost all the traditional homes, providing meat eggs and swerving as a source of income. The guinea fowl production is however read extensively in almost all house households in the three Northern Regions. The birds are left on free range to feed themselves. A few farmers however provide some form of accommodation during the night. This study was conducted to assess the Potential of the Agricultural Extension Delivery on Guinea fowl (Numidea meleagris) Production by Small Scale Farmers in the Upper East Region of Ghana. Questionnaires were used to purposively collect data from 120 farmers and 18 Agricultural Extension Agents (A.E A). Descriptive statistics and chi-square were used for statistical analysis. The study found that the major problems of the small scale farmers were high keet mortality. The problem was further made worse due to low knowledge of extension agents to deliver extension messages that address the problems of the farmers.

The results from the survey showed that the socio-economic characteristics of the farmers had an influence on their agricultural information search behaviour. The study specifically found that 92.5% 0f the respondent earn less than GH¢1000.00 per annum and this had an influence on the level of their operation and the technology uptake as 64.2% of the farmers practice the free range (traditional) system of management. On extension delivery the result showed that farmer‟s participation in extension programme development could influence the process of extension delivery. Majority of the farmers preferred interactive methods and channels. 59% preferred communicating to them using group approach to organising farmers. Agricultural Extension Agents remained a major preferred channel of extension delivery to the small scale farmers in addition to input dealers and the use of mobile phones. The study found that only 16.9% of the respondents were reached by Extension Agents on fortnightly basis. The curricula of agricultural training institutions

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and the in-service trainings offered by Ministry of Food and Agriculture are not adequate to the needs of the guinea fowl farmers. This has led to low knowledge and skills of Extension Agents on fowl husbandry. Though MoFA is a preferred organization by many of the respondent in terms of extension delivery the private organization were ranked 66% against 41% in terms of reliability of extension messages on guinea fowl production. The study then proceeded to recommend a review of the curricula of the agricultural training institutes to make them more relevant to demands of the small scale guinea fowl farmers. A collaborative approach of institutionalized training programme on guinea fowl production could be designed by the actors as well as promoting the Public Private Participation in extension delivery to address the shortfall in extension delivery the small scale guinea fowl farmers.