ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ADVISORY SERVICES AND INPUT SUPPORT COMPONENTS

ABSTRACT

This study aimed at assessing the implementation of advisory services and input support components by Fadama III beneficiaries in Oyo state. The Project Implementation Manual (PIM) of Fadama III advisory services and input support components which involved specific activities the project proposed to execute was being used as a criteria to check the accomplishment of the project as projected. Thus, in determining the gap between ‘what is’ and ‘what ought to be’ beneficiaries of the advisory services of Fadama III were interviewed. A multi-stage sampling technique was adopted to sample 160 respondents in the study area. Data were collected and analyzed using descriptive (frequency count, percentage, mean and standard deviation) and inferential (PPMC, Anova and Chi square) statistics. Two-third of the respondents were male (69.4%) while 30.6% were female. The age distribution of the respondents showed that majority (75%) of the respondents are between the ages of 44-53years, while the youth (3.1%) had the least group. Majority (82.5%) of the respondents were married with majority of respondents (65.5%) having a household size of between 6-10 family members. A greater proportion (98.1%) of the respondents had one form of formal education with44.4% having completed secondary education while 1.9% never had an opportunity of formal education. Majority of the respondents’were crop producers (30%), 28.1%livestock producers,16.9%fisher folks, 13.1% pastoralist and 11.9% were involved in agroforestry as their primary occupation. The various categories of beneficiaries (crop producers, livestock producers, pastoralist, fisher folk and agroforestry) benefited majorly from and were satisfied with the advisory services components compared to the input support components in which its implementation did not go beyond the manual. Majority of the respondents claimed inadequate input support scheme as the most severe constraint faced during the implementation of the project. Lack of infrastructure was ranked second among the constraints identified, cost of acquiring inputs to implement training was ranked third amongst the constraints identified while impracticability of the training was claimed not to be a constraint as what was taught during the training was applicable to their various enterprise. Data obtained showed that respondents have a favourable attitude towards the implementation of the advisory services and input support components but will be more encouraged if relevant inputs proposed for the project are made available. Results indicated that the categories of Fadama III beneficiaries varied in their attitude towards the implementation of advisory services and input support components (F= 2.591, p= 0.039).  Thus, the implementation of advisory services and input support components was relevant to the various enterprise of beneficiaries, appropriate but less effective to Fadama III beneficiaries. In view of these findings, the study recommends established input support scheme in which the federal, state and local government bodies join efforts by ensuring prompt payment of their respective counterpart funds to forestall unnecessary delays or decline in project execution and smooth running of supervising agencies. Also. The National Fadama Development Project should adhere strictly to the stated guidelines of the project to prevent attitude change of beneficiaries towards the programme and future participation by beneficiaries.