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Title:Matching extension service with farmers' needs: towards combining social and agro-ecological approaches in Ethiopian extension
Author:Berhanu, AbejeISNI
Year:2008
Periodical:Eastern Africa Social Science Research Review (ISSN 1027-1775)
Volume:24
Issue:2
Period:June
Pages:1-26
Language:English
Notes:biblio. refs.
Geographic terms:Ethiopia
Northeast Africa
Subjects:agricultural extension
subsistence farming
farming systems
fertilizers
Agriculture, Agronomy, Forestry
Agricultural extension work
agricultural ecology
Farmers--Education
External link:http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/eastern_africa_social_science_research_review/v024/24.2.berhanu.pdf
Abstract:An extension service grounded in the social, economic and ecological realities of the farming family and the farm can better target its programmes to meet farmers' needs. In this study 305 farm households, from two districts of north-central Ethiopia, are used as a case study to examine key socioeconomic and ecological indicators that affect effective use of extension services. Data was collected using the household questionnaire method and analysed using univariate statistical methods to determine factors that impact effective use of extension inputs. Of the seven variables selected for analysis, plot topography, holding size and number of oxen owned were significantly correlated with the amount of fertilizer use. In other words, those fertilizer-using respondents with flat topography, manageable size of land and a pair of oxen were able to use more fertilizers. For an effective extension service, three approaches are necessary: agroecology-sensitive extension, need-driven extension and effective use of indigenous farming knowledge. The three are complementary and provide an integrated extension approach at the local level. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]
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