Assessment of the Perceptions of Farmers on the Performance of Fadama III Activities in Niger Delta Area of Nigeria

The study, assessed the farmers perceptions on the performance of Fadama III activities in Niger Delta area of Nigeria. The population of the study covered Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa and Delta States Fadama III farmers involved in cassava, poultry and fisheries production. A multistage sampling procedure was used to select 36Fadama Users’ Groups (FUGs) from which farmers were randomly selected to obtain a sample size of 360 beneficiaries. Primary data were used for the study, which were collected using a structured questionnaire administered to the respondents. Data collected were subjected to mean computation and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The results from specific States showed that beneficiaries’ perceptions on programme/activities achieved the following perception pooled means having Akwa Ibom, 2.83; Delta, 2.68 and Bayelsa, 2.66. In general, the satisfaction level attained a grand mean of 2.72. This was positive, there was no significant variation (p<0.05) in the perception of the Fadama III agricultural projects beneficiaries about achievement of project objectives in the implementation of activities among the three Niger Delta States. Generally, it was concluded that among others, beneficiaries were satisfied with gender inclusiveness of the programme and good commitment of local facilitators leading to increase in income generation. Beneficiaries were however not satisfied with Fadama III officers conducted of quarterly monitoring and evaluation activities, and low responses to farmers’ problems by Fadama III officers. The study recommended that Fadama field staff should conduct regular quarterly monitoring and evaluation activities to meet beneficiaries’ needs, while prompt responses should be given to farmers’ problems and more provision of inputs in terms of quality to ensure durability of provisions for farming activities such that achievable goals, tasks and targets should be given to Fadama III Officer for effective execution.