EXTENSION SERVICE DELIVERY IN THE NIGER DELTA AREA : A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF GREEN RIVER PROJECT AND RIVERS STATE AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (ADP)

ABSTRACT
The study examined the extension service delivery by green river project and Rivers state Agricultural Development Programme. A multi-stage sampling technique involving both purposive and simple random sampling techniques was used to select 211 respondents from the sampling frame obtained from the extension organizations for the study. Data was collected from the administration of well-structured questionnaires and analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings revealed that majority of the respondents were males 58% and were between the age bracket 40-49 years. Also majority of the respondents were married (72%) with a household size of 6-8 persons. Similarly, the farmers had above 20 years of farming experience. Majority agreed that they have received extension services from the change agency (72%) and have full-time participation on the extension service. Furthermore, the farmers agreed that their knowledge, total production, quality of product, annual income had improved after receiving extension service from G.R.P. However farmers who had received extension service from River State A.D.P, only agreed that their knowledge had improved. Their was a high and positive correlation between extension service and the standard of living of the farmers, which were statistically significant at 5%.