EFFECTS OF ACCESS OF FEMALE FARMERS TO AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION SERVICES ON AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY IN THE TALENSI DISTRICT OF THE UPPPER EAST REGION OF GHANA

Abstract

In Sub-Saharan Africa, agricultural activities have been the backbone of all economic activities. Agriculture has remained a major source of food and also the major determinant of the basic livelihoods in Sub-Saharan Africa. The sector contributes immensely to employment, GDP and export earnings in the continent. Women, who are the majority of the rural dwellers in Africa play a significant role in the agricultural sector which in most cases their contributions are downplayed. They contribute about 60%-80% of their time to every level of the agricultural line. The objective of the study was to examine the effect of access of smallholder female farmers to agriculture extension services on productivity in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region of Ghana. Talensi district was purposively selected because of its geographic location, in the Guinea Savanna Ecological Zone located in a semi-dry climatic region and its contribution to the food basket of the nation with the highest percentage of smallholder farmers. Simple random sampling was used to select respondents from the households. The sample size was determined to be 100 using the Yamane formula. The research reveals that about 68.7% of the female farmers’ in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region of Ghana were aware of the existence of the Agricultural extension officers in their districts. One of the factors influencing the access of female farmers to agricultural extension services is limited capacities of extension officers in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region. Traditional beliefs and cultural set ups were also identified as factors that hinder female farmers’ access to agricultural extension officers in the district. It was revealed that women farmers in the district have limited participation in the management committees which also influences the level of access of the female farmers to the agricultural extension services. The study therefore, recommended periodic stakeholders engagement with the women farmers’ in the district to educate them on the economic potentials in farming activities and how they can make economic gains out of it to support their households better. The study also recommended that women farmers in the district should also be given some level of entrepreneurship training to help them change their mind-set of doing farming just for the consumption of their households.