Factors influencing extension agents’ competence on climate smart practices in South West Nigeria: implication for rendering effective resilient advisory services.

Abstract

The need to ensure the provision of an effective rural advisory service on the utilization of climate change resilient agricultural techniques led this chapter to examine determinants of extension personnel’ competence on climate smart practices. The chapter was buttressed with empirical evidence from South West Nigeria by selecting 277 extension agents sampled through a multistaged procedure. A structured questionnaire was used to elicit information on the knowledge, involvement, importance, and competence of extension agents on climate smart practices. The cronbach alpha reliability values for the constructs used in the different section of the instruments were knowledge (0.73), involvement (0.78), importance (0.80), and competence (0.84). Data were analyzed using IBM AMOS version24 to conduct a confirmatory factor analysis to determine the interrelationships that exist between the extension agents’ knowledge, involvement, importance, and their competence on climate smart techniques. The findings revealed a significant and positive correlation between the constructs of extension agents’ competence and the component of their knowledge, involvement, and importance. These findings point out the need for educating and training extension agents on climate smart techniques in order to ensure the continuous upgrade of their competence which will facilitate the rendering of more effective resilient advisory services to farmers and ultimately enhance food security.