Improving Agricultural Production in Ghana; A Case Study of Extension Education for Migrant Farmers in Awudome Communities in the Volta Region

Abstract

This paper reports on means of improving agricultural production in Ghana, with a case study of extension education for migrant farmers in Awudome Communities. The study covered: - the extent to which they are aware of the innovations introduced by extension programmes; - the extent to which they are using innovations introduced; - some constraints the farmers face in adopting innovations; and the corrective measures that-can be taken in order to improve extension programmes. An attempt was made to find out the extent to which migrant farmers were making use of improved practices and inputs in their farming activities in order to improve agricultural productivity and sustainable use of natural resources. The research was conducted using simple survey research method of the descriptive type and the interview and questionnaire were used in data collection. The study sample was selected using both systematic and simple random sampling techniques from five migrant settlements in the Awudome Traditional area. The research findings have shown that: - all the respondents were subsistence farmers who practised shifting cultivation. They were mainly food crop producers with fragmented plots; most of them acquired the land on which they farmed by share-cropping or rent; - they used simple hand tools such as cutlass and hoe and depended heavily on family labour; a large proportion of the farmers planted unimproved varieties of seed haphazardly, and never used any agro-chemicals; a high proportion of the farmers were not aware of the existence of extension programmes; and - most of the farmers were not aware or have never learnt to use high yielding varieties of seeds, agro-chemicals or improved practices such as planting in line or spacing. However, an interview conducted for extension agents showed that they worked with contact farmers who were to extend the knowledge gained to other farmers. Even though the rate of adoption of improved practices and inputs was high among these contact farmers, a large majority of the other farmers seemed not to be getting the information, and were thus not using these practices and inputs. The major constraints to adoption of innovations by migrant farmers were: financial constraints and lack of knowledge on the existence and use of agricultural innovations. Rainfall variability, lack of credit facilities, seasonality of farm work and high cost of farm inputs, also came out as further constraints on adoption of technology. Based on these findings, extension programmes could be improved for a sustained and increased production by: using farmers groups in communicating innovations rather than individual contacts; - in communicating extension messages to the rural audience, the mass media are promising as adjuncts to, not as a substitute for face-to-face extension, and the local language should be the medium for communicating extension messages; also, oral or visual forms of communication may be more useful that written extension materials. operating “unified” extension system as opposed to crop-specific services; - increase attention of research on food crops, inter-cropping and natural resource management; - improved seeds and agro-chemicals of the right type and packaged in appropriate small bags or containers and other inputs must be available everywhere. Including advice regarding the management of soil and water conservation at farm level in extension messages