AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

This course describes rural development as part of general development embracing a large segment of those in great need in the rural sector. It is also described as a process through which rural poverty is alleviated by sustainable increase in the productivity and incomes of low-income rural dwellers and households. Rural development process, objectives, problems, strategies and approaches were elaborated for the understanding of the learner.

The students of Agricultural Economics & Extension will be able to know and familiarize themselves with the historical development of Extension in Nigeria – the various organization models adopted up to date and emerging models; Principles of management, administration and supervision; roles and responsibilities of various levels of extension and other relevant staff; Principles of morale and motivation and implications for extension administration and supervision; Handling a personnel matters – staff development and promotion and Creating conducive working environment; disciplines, etc. This will also give the students the opportunity to suggest various ways of improving extension services in Nigeria.

This course is intended to equip the students, who are potential extension workers, sufficient information on those factors that affects farmers operation and their adoption or non-adoption of improved farm practices that is, other than economic ones. The course x-rays the innate or inherent tendencies in human life that have influence on farmers’ productivity. Topics that will be covered in this course include; Meaning of Psychology, Fields of Psychology, Concepts in Psychology, Intelligence, Individual Differences, Teaching and Learning Motivation, Attitude, Concepts and stages of Human development, Emotions related to extension Education, Memory, personality Development and Application of Psychology in agricultural extension and rural development.

• Students must use the format recommended by the Department for Seminar writing • The work must be on power point • Three hard copies of the work must be submitted, two weeks to the presentation dates • Students must attend all presentations irrespective of whether he/she is scheduled or not • Corrected work after the presentation must be submitted to the coordinator in the Department.

The students of Agricultural Extension and Communication Technology will be able to understand and familiarize themselves with the concept of communication in extension and the various methods needed in having an effective exchange of ideas at every level of communication, until it gets to the farmer on the field and an effective feedback is received. Students will be able to know the Meaning and concept of communication and Extension; communication process: Major, Model or theory, Element of communication process; Principle of communication in extension, relationship between communication, teaching-learning and adoption process in extension; Communication; Importance of design/preparation and utilization of Audio-Visual aids in Extension; Computer and allied tools in Extension communication. There will be practical sessions in the area of Design, preparation and utilization of audio-visual aids and media resources, communication model building and role-playing.

This course involves visits and trips to agro allied industries, research institutes and other agriculturally related establishments and organizations. At the end of each trip, reports are written by students and graded. The reports serve as the examination for the course

Farm complex Research institute Training institute Agro Processing organization Mechanization organization By/waste products utilization Agricultural extension organization

Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to: • Define and explain agricultural extension and development • Highlight the existing types of Agric and explain each of them • Explain extension strategies in Nigeria and some selected countries • Explain constraints and weakness of the systems mentioned above • Explain extension strategies in some selected countries and compare it with that of Nigeria • Explain extension strategies of the 21 century in use in some selected countries across the world.

This course is a 500Level course, aimed at exposing the students to the various problems affecting agricultural growth and development in Nigeria and how such problems could be solved through formulation of appropriate policies and programmes in the Agricultural sector in particular and the whole economy at large.

The focus of this course is to impart knowledge on the types, nature, characteristics and attributes of farming systems of the (humid) tropics. At the end of the teaching and learning activities related to this course, the students will be able to aptly affirm that ”In traditional cropping system farmers through experience gained over several years and generation, the people had derived crop mixtures and rotation to suit specific ecological and social economic conditions with a view of attaining yield stability”.