Evaluation of Aquaculture Extension Service in Rivers State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined aquaculture extension services in Rivers State, Nigeria. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 50 fish farmers, and primary data were collected using a structured questionnaire. Simple statistical techniques such as frequency distribution and percentage were used to analyse the data. This survey revealed that most (70.7%) of the respondents were aware of extension services, while remaining 29.3% of the respondents were not aware of any extension services. The majority (43.9%) of respondents reported that the source of extension services was the Rivers State Agricultural Development Project. The rating of extension services in the state was little encouraging, as more than 56.1% of the respondents rated their services as very helpful, while 26.8% of them rated their services as not helpful. On the aspect of regularity of extension agents to fish farmers, only 24.4% of the farmers reported that the extension agents visited them occasionally; about 48.8% of the fish farmers revealed that extension agents were visited rarely, while 19.5% of the respondents had no access to extension services. On the mode of contact with extension agents, about 87.8% of the respondents preferred a short leadership training program, while only 12.2% of respondents found individual contact to be the most effective. Further results reveal that education and experience in fish farming have a significant relationship with the effectiveness of extension. There was no significant association between sex (X2 =21.272, p = 0.052) and marital status (X2 =29.216, p =0.000). The results revealed that the extension agents should intensify their efforts in reaching farmers and passing useful information to them to increase farmers' profitability.