Agricultural Extension Services And Farmer Innovations: The Case Of The Garu Presbyterian Agricultural Station

ABSTRACT

The critical role of agriculture to the Ghanaian economy cannot be over emphasized. It has thus been the objective of governments to improve and develop the productive capacity of agriculture. Agricultural extension has been responsible for supporting farmers to raise their production capacity. Over the last two decades the effectiveness of agricultural extension to achieve its goal has been called to question. The significance of local innovation potential for sustainable development is increasingly acknowledged, but extension providers and development planners rarely attempt to develop this potential, nor do they try to disseminate local innovations within and among communities. Extension service delivery has not adequately incorporated and supported farmer innovations. The objective of study was to examine the nature of farmer innovations in the Garu Tempane District in the Upper East Region of Ghana and how these can be incorporated into agricultural extension services for more effectiveness. Literature was critically reviewed focusing on the theoretical and conceptual explanations and discussions of agricultural extension and farmer innovation. Two main survey research instruments - questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data. Questionnaires were administered to 200 farmers from ten communities and 18 staff of formal institutions within the Garu Tempane District. Focused group discussions were held with group leaders and community experts. The study found that most of the farmers are non literate small holders, engaged in the cultivation of a wide diversity of crops and livestock. indigenous knowledge and practices abound in the area of study. However these are intertwined in the social cultural and religious beliefs and practices of the people. Information on farming is freely shared usually under informal conditions. Majority of the farmers covered said they introduce changes or modify technologies introduced to them In the light of the findings it is suggested that since farmers have a vast knowledge system that is yearning to be harnessed, extension agents must tap these experiences on a deliberate and consistent basis and not as an afterthought. Farmers are innovators and therefore extension providers must necessarily seek to involve them in the development, testing and dissemination of new technologies. From the analysis, the agricultural information systems framework holds promise for unlocking the potential in small holder farmers. Extension service providers and policy makers are urged to fully apply its principles for more effectiveness. The study also advocates for the introduction and expansion of the community based extension system. This should work especially as it was discovered that farmers use every available opportunity to spread information on farming issues amongst themselves. The changing nature of the agricultural environment calls for a new extension officer - capable, reliable, confident and above all sociable. Thus painstaking human resource development efforts will be required to make the field worker the facilitator expected of him/her.