Farmer Perception of the Effectiveness of the Extension Service in Communicating Climate Change Information, Kingdom of Swaziland

摘要

Agriculture remains an important sector in the economy of the Swaziland. Small scale farmers support the majority of the population, about 70%, who live in the rural areas. It is the assertion of this paper that very little attention has been focussed on the impact of the extension service and how famers perceive their impact with regards to information dissemination on climate change. The impact of Agriculture Extension Messages to influence adoption of new technologies is vital for improved crop productivity. Primary and secondary data were used for the study including the administration of a questionnaire from 170 farmers in the four agro-ecological zones. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics. The results showed that about 67.3% of the respondents sourced information on climate change from mass media (radio). About 60.7% of the farmers said that extension does teach on climate change, despite the fact that their visibility was inadequate at 38.7%. The study also revealed that this low level of visibility affected farmers’ level of understanding which stood at a low 45.2%. Among the majority of the respondents that understood the messages, about 61.9% said they utilized the information in planning for their agriculture production for the coming seasons. It is recommended that the whole agriculture extension service including private, public and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) extension should improve their visibility, in terms of increased numbers or organized extension activities among the communities where they have jurisdiction. Similarly, even in instances where they are visible, it is recommended that the quality and effectiveness of the teaching be improved to get farmers to understand what is being taught or communicated. Also, capacity building of extension staff should be made a priority to improve the quality of officers, and in retrospect the messages disseminated. Last but not least, structured or targeted capacity building programs should be developed for farmers within commodity groups to enhance effectiveness of adoption of messages. Lastly, even though the economy is on the decline it is recommended that funds be made available for extension programs and activities to improve overall effectiveness of the service.