A Comparative Assessment of Sustainable Livestock Extension Service Delivery in Benue and Nasarawa States, Nigeria
Keywords:
Comparative, assessment, sustainable, livestock, extension service, deliveryAbstract
A survey was conducted in 2005 to assess Sustainable Livestock Extension Service Delivery in Benue and Nasarawa  States. The population of this study consisted of all livestock extension policy stakeholders, and due to the enormity of this population , a sample size of 220 respondents was selected using purposive, snowball and simple random sampling techniques. Data for this study were collected mainly from primary sources  through the use of a well structured questionnaire. The collected data were  analysed  using descriptive statistics such as frequency distribution tables, and  percentages , as well  as inferential statistics such as Kruskal  Wallis(H) test, Mann-Whitney(U)test and Ranked correlation coefficient(rho).It was found that there  is a significant difference between Benue and Nasarawa States(U1=22.5.>0) in terms of the commonest species of Livestock kept and that there is a significant difference between Benue  and  Nasarawa States (H.cal.10.3>X2-Tab.7.81) in terms of sustainable livestock extension service  delivery. Besides, it was  found that funding of livestock extension service delivery has been unsustainable in Benue(R2=12.0) and    Nasarawa(R4=12.5) States, and that  majority of livestock farmers in Benue(72.7%) and Nasarawa(63.6%) States had been obtaining their sources  of agricultural information from extension agents. Finally, there was  a strong relationship(rho=0.9) between Benue  and Nasarawa States in terms of implementation of key operational extension policy measures. It  was recommended that cost sharing  should be adopted by the three tiers of government ,commercial banks , oil and gas companies and the private sector in funding  of our Unified Agricultural Extension System(UAES), development of the 141 grazing reserves earlier mapped out in the Northern parts of Nigeria and implementation of Sedentarisation livestock policy, and putting in place a sustainable policy framework akin to that of Tertiary Education Trust Fund(TETF) and the Smith Lever Act of May 8,1914 that established the Co-operative Extension Service(CES) in the USA, to ensure adequate funding of livestock extension service delivery in Nigeria in general and Benue and Nasarawa States in particular with a view to ensure sustainable livestock extension service delivery and transformation of agriculture in this country.
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