Agricultural extension delivery in a decentralised system: a case study of Keta district in the Volta Region of Ghana

Agriculture occupies a pivotal position in the present and future development of the Keta district. The productivity in this sector has witnessed uneven gains and the overall picture is disappointing. This is attributed to factors including: dwindling farm size; poor access to credit and inputs; declining fish landed from both sea and lagoon; poor and erratic rainfall pattern and distribution; and poor access to extension. It is recognised that agricultural extension is one of the important means of achieving progress and change in agriculture. This implies that the transfer of appropriate technology to farmers/fishermen is a pre-requite for the widespread use of sustainable agricultural practices for development. The main objectives of the study are to examine the structure and functioning of the Unified Extension System (UES), examine the relationship between the Department of Agricultural Extension Services (DAES) and other government departments in the district under the decentralised system, and to propose strategies for the effective and efficient delivery of agricultural extension to enhance the development of the Keta District. The stratified, quota and randomised sampling techniques were used to select farmers, fishermen and extension staff for interviews. The major methods of data collection were field survey, informal discussions, personal observation and library research. Descriptive statistical techniques were used for the analysis of the data collected. The major findings of the study indicate that Front Line Staff (FLS) only collect data, whilst farmers and fishermen do not participate in the planning of extension programmes. The linkages between extension and the other decentralised government departments were weak, and training topics were focused on crop production with total neglect of fishing. Further, the majority of farmers and fishermen, especially the latter do not receive extension and they depend mostly on their kin and friends rather than groups for agricultural information. Radio is an important source of agricultural information for both the extension worker and their clients. The logistics for extension staff are inadequate, whilst attention for women clients is low. Other findings include poor control and supervision due to lack of co-ordination between the supervisor’s low morale of extension staff, weak extension-research linkage, untimeliness of message delivery and the lack of participation of farmers, fishermen, and extension staff in the monitoring and evaluation of extension programmes in the Keta district. The study recommends some strategies to improve on the delivery of agricultural extension services such as the dissemination of appropriate and ecologically sound technologies; improving farmers’ and fishermen’s access to inputs, credit and market channels; fine tuning of the Training and Visit system to take into consideration socio - cultural and economic condition of the farmers and fishermen, strengthening farmer- extension-research linkages; reducing gender imbalances in the dissemination of agricultural information; improving supervision; addressing the critical issues related to institutional capacity building under the decentralised system; enhancing the motivation of staff, diversifying the scope of extension training topics, and making effective use of results of monitoring and evaluation.

Source: KNUST