Abstract:
The guine fowl is an abundant species in almost all the traditional homes, providing meat
eggs and swerving as a source of income. The guinea fowl production is however read
extensively in almost all house households in the three Northern Regions. The birds are left
on free range to feed themselves. A few farmers however provide some form of
accommodation during the night. This study was conducted to assess the Potential of the
Agricultural Extension Delivery on Guinea fowl (Numidea meleagris) Production by Small
Scale Farmers in the Upper East Region of Ghana. Questionnaires were used to
purposively collect data from 120 farmers and 18 Agricultural Extension Agents (A.E A).
Descriptive statistics and chi-square were used for statistical analysis. The study found that
the major problems of the small scale farmers were high keet mortality. The problem was
further made worse due to low knowledge of extension agents to deliver extension
messages that address the problems of the farmers.
The results from the survey showed that the socio-economic characteristics of the farmers
had an influence on their agricultural information search behaviour. The study specifically
found that 92.5% 0f the respondent earn less than GH¢1000.00 per annum and this had an
influence on the level of their operation and the technology uptake as 64.2% of the farmers
practice the free range (traditional) system of management. On extension delivery the
result showed that farmer‟s participation in extension programme development could
influence the process of extension delivery. Majority of the farmers preferred interactive
methods and channels. 59% preferred communicating to them using group approach to
organising farmers. Agricultural Extension Agents remained a major preferred channel of
extension delivery to the small scale farmers in addition to input dealers and the use of
mobile phones. The study found that only 16.9% of the respondents were reached by
Extension Agents on fortnightly basis. The curricula of agricultural training institutions
and the in-service trainings offered by Ministry of Food and Agriculture are not adequate
to the needs of the guinea fowl farmers. This has led to low knowledge and skills of
Extension Agents on fowl husbandry. Though MoFA is a preferred organization by many
of the respondent in terms of extension delivery the private organization were ranked 66%
against 41% in terms of reliability of extension messages on guinea fowl production. The
study then proceeded to recommend a review of the curricula of the agricultural training
institutes to make them more relevant to demands of the small scale guinea fowl farmers.
A collaborative approach of institutionalized training programme on guinea fowl
production could be designed by the actors as well as promoting the Public Private
Participation in extension delivery to address the shortfall in extension delivery the small
scale guinea fowl farmers.
