INFLUENCE OF THE USE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES (ICTS) ON AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION WORKERS JOB PERFORMANCE IN RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study was carried out to investigate the Influence of the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) on Agricultural Extension Workers Job Performance in Rivers State, Nigeria. It described the socio-economic characteristics of Agricultural Extension Workers; examined the extent of performance; and identified the challenges encountered by AEWs in the influence of ICTs in the study area. Purposive sampling technique was used to select sixty-five agricultural extension workers from both private and public extension organizations. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings revealed that 60% of the respondents were males, while 40% were females, 56.9% were aged between 45-54 years, about 78.5% were married; and 49.2% were from households of 5-8 members. Considerable proportion (56.9%) had university degree, 41.5% had NCE/OND and 40% had 19 or more years of working experience. 66.2% visited the farmers fortnightly, and 33.8% visited famers once a month. Results on extent of the influence of ICTs by AEWs showed that in the public agricultural extension organizations GSM phone  was used most often while fax, PDA and digital wallet with  were not used often. In private agricultural extension organizations GSM phone  and land line  were the most widely used media while fax  was the least. The major influence of the use of ICTs on public AEWs job performance indicated that it saves time , wider coverage  while loss of job (1.08) was rejected. Also, in the private organizations it was discovered that the public AEWs had more challenges than the private AEWs in the study area with major constraints being erratic power supply, high cost of ICTs facilities and poor/inadequate training on ICT and high charges for radio & TV programme presentation. The result equally revealed that gender, educational level and household size influenced ICTs use by AEWs in the study area and that there is a significant difference between eh private and public extension organization in the extent of the influence of ICTs in their job performance. Finally, the study recommends that training courses on the ICTs application should be offered to RSADP extension workers to improve their digital literacy and data skills this would enhance effective communication with farm families for improved productivity, there should be stable power supply and adequate funding in RSMOA and government and stakeholders in telecommunication industry should regulate charges in internet subscription and TV/Radio stations.