Factors Influencing Access of Government Agricultural Extension Services Among Banana Farmers in Lyantonde District, Uganda

Abstract

In Uganda, the agriculture extension program has been the main conduit for disseminating information on farm technologies, support rural adult learning, and assist farmers in developing their farm technical and managerial skills. It is expected that extension programs will help increase farm productivity, farm revenue, reduce poverty and minimize food insecurity. In this study, we estimate the effects of extension services on farm income with reference to Government Agricultural Extension Services (GAES) delivered by Ministry of Agriculture, animal husbandry and fisheries (MAAIF). The study used cross-section research design to randomly select and collect data from 165 banana farmers from Lyantonde subcounty. The collected data was entered and later analyzed using R software version 4.4.0. The results reveal that more than half of the banana farmers (58.2%) were accessing government agricultural extension services (GAESs), significantly higher than those not having access. Using binary logistic regression model, only two factors; - access to agricultural credit (p = 0.006) and membership to a farmer association (p<0.001) were found to significantly affect farmers’ access to GAES. The study findings point the critical role of farmer associations as well as access to agricultural credit to banana farmers in agricultural extension. It is, therefore, recommended that formation of farmer association be given a top priority as it helps in reducing the extension-to-farmer ratio for efficient and effective agricultural extension service delivery.