Outreach Program to University of Benin Host Communities (original) (raw)

General background of the study: Agriculture is critical to the livelihood of the majority of the inhabitants of University of Benin host communities. Rural agriculture is particularly, characterized by cycles of low agricultural productivity, low incomes, poor access to quality agricultural inputs and advice, limited access to equitable markets and poverty. Consequently, productivity of land varies widely, and there is much scope for improvement. The Department of agricultural economics and extension services is actively involved in action research that contributes to innovation for food security, and provide services for rural communities. Outreach programme educate farmers regarding the use of sustainable agriculture practices and alternative marketing strategies. The extension services unit of the department of Agricultural Economics and Extension Services in the bid to contribute to the development in the agricultural and rural sector of the economy embarked on community outreach programme under the students Field Practical Training (FPT) in the 2012/2013 session. The outreach programme is aimed at establishing the presence of the university as an extension outfit to the host communities through quality interventions, awareness creation for attitudinal change, capacity building and packaging innovations to address identified needs and problems in order to improve the quality of life of the rural people. However, there is need to coordinate, scale and make sustainable these services as well as to better reach farmers, especially women. Outreach programme to University of Benin Host Communities is a participatory extension project intended to develop a rapid, relatively low-cost methodology for assessing the needs of farmers, in the rural host communities of the University of Benin, Benin-City. The focus of the outreach programme is to induce farmers' responsiveness to improved farm practices