84
85 Training is an essential part of the success of the Masibuyele Emasimini programme it informs the skills base of the beneficiaries and can change an ordinary farmer into a successful one (Axinn 1988). The Masibuyele Emasimini programme is an initiative driven by the Department of Agriculture and relies on Extension Officers under the employment of the same department to train farmers in necessary farming skills. Extension Advisors/Officers have been under the employment of the department decades prior to the initiation of this programme. They have been working with farmers for the duration of their careers. The study wanted to find out if these farmers believed that the training received from Extension Officers was adequate or not especially towards helping them be more productive in this program. The results show that most beneficiaries are unsatisfied with the training received from Extension Officer/Advisors and only 5% were actually satisfied
4.10.3 Immediate Attention to Problems
The majority of respondents (81.7%) indicated that extension officer‟s attention to problems was not immediate. While 7.5% said the immediate attention is readily available to some extent, 5.8% reported that it is only average and 1.7 % great extent 1.7% very great extent.
4.10.4 Requirements of Masibuyele Emasimini Policy Document
40% of the respondents strongly disagree further 18% disagree 37% are uncertain only 3% agree.
The results indicate that respondents believe that Extension Officers do not follow concept document requirements. This kind of perception true or untrue can be detrimental to the relationship between farmers and extension officers. It can lead to great animosity from farmers who believe Extension Officers are not delivering and from Extension Officers who would in turn see farmers as ungrateful and a stumbling block to their careers. Table 12, summarises the findings.
Table 12: Followed requirements of policy document and had workshops with farmers Had Adequate Workshops With
Farmers
Followed The Requirement Of The Programme
n % n %
Strongly Agree 0 0 0 0
Agree 8 6.7 4 3.3
86
Uncertain 38 31.7 46 38.3
Disagree 35 29.2 22 18.3
Strongly Disagree 39 32.5 48 40
Total 120 100 120 100
4.10.5 Holding workshops with farmers
When asked if Extension Officers have held workshops with them as farmers 32.5% strongly disagreed while 29.2% disagree 30% were uncertain whether any workshops were held only 6.7% agree that workshops were held with them. The majority of respondents reported that no workshops have been held with them, by extension officers. This might explain the poor skills portrayed under the skills training section of this chapter.
4.10.6 Rating assistance from extension officers
Akpalu (2013) states that extension officers are the key bridges between research, government and farmers. For small enterprise and subsistence farmers they are often the key sources of knowledge on farming and new trends within the industry. Ideally extension officers would assist farmers by informing them of new technologies, methods and opportunities. They would also link farmers with existing markets; help farmers form partnerships and cooperatives and liaise with private sectors on behalf of farmers. Therefore extension officers are crucial role players in rural development. Their involvement is critical in the success of farmers.
Figure 25: Beneficiaries rate of help from extension officers
Figure, 25 summarises the results from beneficiaries, when asked to rate the level of service they receive from extension officers. There was an overwhelming level of dissatisfaction with the
80,0
8,3 3,3 5,8 2,5 0,0
0,0 50,0 100,0
poor fair uncertain good missing very good
percentage
Level of help from extension officers
how do you rate the help you get from extension officers
87 level of service they received from extension officer/advisors. As much as 80% of the respondents indicated that they get a poor level of service from extension officers while, 8.3%
reported it to be fair, 3.3% were uncertain of the level of service and only 5.8% were satisfied with the level of service. The majority reported that the old Extension Officers used to come but the majority said within the past couple of years they did not see an extension officer in their farms. The lack of assistance from extension officers most likely hinders the success of the beneficiaries in farmers. As Akpalu (2013) has stated extension officers are a bridge they link small emerging farmers such as these beneficiaries to the skills and methods that will assist them in being successful farmers. The lack of assistance means that beneficiaries have limited knowledge on new methods of farming crop and pest management. They have to find their own markets and they have to struggle and use the traditional the knowledge they have.
4.10.7 Visitation from Extension Advisors/ officer
Farmer visitation is an important aspect of extension services as it allows farmers and Extension Advisors to interact on a personal level, secondly to see first-hand the needs and skills farmers have in order to equip them with relevant skills. It goes without saying that the more Extension Advisors frequent farmers the more assistance farmers will receive. Secondly problems and challenges can be addressed in their initial stages (Axinn 1988; Bindlish & Evenson 1997).
Figure 26, depicts the frequency of visits from extension officers as reported by respondents.
Figure 26: Frequency of visits from Extension Officers
The frequency of visitation has a close relationship to the level of service provided by extension officers. Very little service can be provided by extension officers if they do not visit farmers on the other hand the more they visit farmers the more they can assist. The results portray a
53,3
37,5
2,5 4,2 ,8 1,7
0 20 40 60 80 100
none sometimes seldom often very often Missing
percentage
Frequency of visits from extension officers
frequency of visits from extension officers
88 problematic picture over 50% of the beneficiaries indicated that they have had no visits from Extension Officers while, 37.5% that they sometimes get a visit from Extension Officers. Just 2.5% indicated that they seldom get visits from Extension Officers and only 4.2% indicated that they are often visited by Extension Officers and 0.8% indicated that Extension Officers visits are very often. Clearly indicating that, extension servicers play a role in the poor performance of beneficiaries.
4.11 IMPACT OF MASIBUYELEEMASIMINI TO BENEFICIARIES