Determinants of Extension Agents' Competency on Value Added Fish Production: Evidence from Nigeria

Value added fish production offers a strategy for transforming an unprofitable enterprise into a profitable one and this opens up a multitude of opportunities and possibilities for Nigerian Fish farmers to leverage upon. Therefore, the need to fully equip extension agents to be able to render adequate advisory services on the areas of value added fish production for a more profitable regime for fish farmers led to this study. Primary data were utilized in this study and the data were collected using a structured questionnaire administered to the total population (total population sampling) of one hundred and twenty frontline extension agents in the Kwara State Agricultural Development Program (KWADP) due to the relatively small number of extension agents in the organization. A total of 117 questionnaires were retrieved back giving a total retrieval rate of about 97%. The findings revealed that the extension agents were economically active with an average age of 40.3 years. Majority were males, married and with a mean household size of 5 persons. More than two-third of the respondents had Ordinary National Diploma certificate and above level of education with an average of about eight (8) years' experience in the extension profession while more than half of the extension agents still had a low competence in value added fish production. Probit regression revealed that the extension agents level of education and years of experience were significant in positively influencing extension agents' competency level while their age was found to be significant in negatively influencing their competency level on value added fish production. It was recommended that there is the need for the ADP in Kwara State to package a robust training program for extension agents on value added fish production initiatives in order to properly equip them in training farmers to tap into all the available potentials that exist in the fishery sector.