Horticultural Crop Production Competencies and Training Needs of Agricultural Extension Workers in Gombe State

Abstract

Agriculture is considered as a back bone in the development of any nation. The most
effective means of transforming Nigeria’s Agriculture for sustainable Agricultural
development is through an effective extension system. This study was to find out the
horticultural crop production competencies and training needs of the Agricultural
extension workers in Gombe State. Descriptive survey research Design was adopted
in this study. The population of the study comprises of 150 Agricultural extension
workers in the state under the Ministry of Agriculture. Simple random sampling
technique was used to select 90 Agricultural extension workers from the entire
population as the respondents of the study. A structured questionnaire was developed
by the researcher as the instrument for data collection. The instrument was validated
by 3 experts in Agricultural extension. Data collected was analysed using descriptive
statistics of frequency distribution, percentage and mean. The results of the study
indicated among others that 78.8% of the Agricultural extension workers in the study
area are male and 21.2% are female and the training needs of the respondents includes
among others the use of information and communication technology (I C T) to source
new horticultural innovations and technology. The study recommended among others
that the Ministry of Agriculture should provide the different training needed by the
AEWs in order to improve their performances.