Published Article

ABSTRACT

The study examined the services of Agricultural Extension among women farmers in the adoption of integrated weed management in Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District, Akwa Ibom State. Three research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. Survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of Agricultural Extension Officers was 196 while the number of registered Women farmers was 2,436. A stratified random sampling was used to sample 41 Agricultural Extension Officers and 487 women farmers. The researchers developed instrument titled Agricultural Extension Services and Adoption of Integrated Weed Management among Women Farmers Questionnaire (AESAIWMWFQ). The questionnaire was used to generate data for the study. Means were used to answer research questions while t - test statistics was used to test null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The results showed that the women farmers needed training in all the components of integrated weed management in order to overcome challenges associated with manual weed control, hence the services of Agricultural Extension among women farmers was insignificant as regards the adoption of integrated weed management in Akwa Ibom North-west Senatorial District. It is recommended among others that women farmers should be trained and informed through seminars and workshops on the appropriate strategies for weed management by the government.

KEYWORDS: Women Farmers, Agricultural Extension Officers, Integrated Weed Management, Training and Adoption.