Assessment of Extension Delivery of Improved Technology to Small Scale Egg Plant Farmers in Abuja, Nigeria

The study was undertaken to assess the extension service delivery of improved technology to eggplant production among small scale farmers in Abuja. The specific objectives were to: describe the socio economic characteristics of the small scale eggplant farmers in the study area, determine the agricultural extension services accessible to small scale garden egg farmers in the study area, determine the methods of extension service delivery that is most effective among eggplant farmers in the study area, identify the benefits derived by the small scale eggplant farmers from extension service delivery in the study area, and determine the challenges faced by the small scale eggplant farmers in accessing extension services in the study area. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 360 respondents for the study. Data were collected using questionnaire and the data collected were analyzed using frequency, percentages, and mean score from likert scale. The results of the analysis show that most (80%) of the respondents were male while 91.9% were married. The average household size was 6.52, the mean age of respondents was 42 years while the average farming experience was 8.57 years. The result further showed that majority (30.4%) had secondary school education, and they had an average farm size of 1.37ha while their average annual income was N233733.56. Also, the major extension service delivery accessible to eggplant farmers was advisory service, while one on one extension method with a mean score of 3.76 was the most effective method of extension service delivery in the study area while adopted village (2.09) was the least effective method of extension service delivery. Access to credit (82.2%) was the major benefit derived by the farmers from extension service delivery. Meanwhile, the major constraint faced by the farmers in accessing agricultural extension service was absence of technical support from extension agents with 94.7% of the responses. It was recommended that regular training should be organized for extension workers to build their technical abilities and ensure that they are equipped with the latest trends in agricultural innovations. This will help them in providing adequate technical support to farmers when they need it.