A COMPARISON OF EXTENSION METHODS USED BY DIFFERENT AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION SERVICE PROVIDERS IN NYANDARUA COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

This Bachelor’s thesis was commissioned by The World Agroforesty Centre and it was written for one of its projects, The East Africa Dairy Development Project. The project aims at improving farmers’ dairy production, market ac cess and generally increasing knowledge among farmers. Four objectives were chosen for this thesis: (1.) to obtain information about extension methods from farmers and extension providers to recommend the use of new extension methods or how to modify the three methods, (2.) to compare the effectiveness of three extension methods, (3.) to identify farmers’ innovations and describe how the innovations are disseminated among the farmers, and (4.) to recommend the most effective extension method to dis seminate research findings and innovations to the farmers. This research includes both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The main method to acquire data was two sets of questionnaires, one given to the farmers and the other one to the extension providers. The data was obtained from two towns, Muki and Ol’kalou, in Kenya in January 2012. The review of the literature explains the concept of extension and extension methods. It focuses on three extension methods: farmer-to-farmer, demonstra tions and dissemination facilitator. It also gives a description of the study ar eas and introduction to organizations and farmer groups involved in the ques tionnaires. The farmers stated farmer-to-farmer as the most effective extension method of these three. The extension providers said that demonstrations is the most ef fective method. According to the survey, there are five variables that affect which extension method is stated to be the most effective one by farmers.