ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY OF PRIVATE EXTENSION AMONG SMALL SCALE CASSAVA FARMERS IN EDO AND DELTA STATE, NIGERIA.

The study examined economic feasibility of private extension among small-scale cassava farmers in Edo and Delta States of Nigeria. Specifically, the study described the socio-economic characteristics of small-scale cassava farmers, examined farmer’s willingness to pay for extension services for cassava production, examine farmer’s perception on economic feasibility of private extension for cassava production and established the relationship between farmer’s socio-economic characteristics and the economic feasibility of private extension delivery for cassava production. Multi-stage sampling procedure, comprising of purposive and random sampling was used to select 391 respondents sampled with the use of structured questionnaires. Data collected were analyzed using frequency, mean, percentage and probit regression. The result showed that the respondents were young (mean age 38 years), educated (98.48%), cultivated a mean farm size of 2.04 hectares and earned a mean income of ₦151534.53 per annum. The major extension services the farmers were willing to pay for were bulletins and handbills (mean=4.83), market price information (mean=4.72), information on pest and disease control (mean= 4.72), input hiring services (mean= 4.69) and pay for advert for radio and television programmes (mean=4.56). It was equally revealed that 52.17% of the respondents (farmers) fell under the high feasibility status implying that about 52% of the respondents believed private extension services was highly feasible. Education (b=-0.263; p<0.05), farming experience b=0.044; p<0.005 and frequency of extension visit (b=0.494; p<0.05) were significant variables influencing the economic feasibility of private extension service delivery in cassava production among the respondents. It was concluded that private extension service for cassava is economically feasible in the study area from the farmer’s point of view. It was recommended that private extension service providers should reach out to small-scale cassava farmers in this study area with the view of enhancing their production performance without conflicting with the existing extension services of the government operated extension system of the Agricultural development Programme (ADP) in the study area.