Livelihood Outcomes of Beneficiaries of University-Based Agricultural Extension System in Southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

University-Based Agricultural Extension System (UBAES) was established to complement the activities of the conventional agricultural extension system. One of its objectives was to impact on the livelihoods of beneficiaries through enhanced food security, improved health status, and reduced vulnerability to poverty. Previous studies have focused more on livelihood diversification and income to the neglect of their outcomes. Therefore, livelihood outcomes of beneficiaries of UBAES in southwestern Nigeria were investigated. A multistage sampling procedure was used to select respondents. The UBAESs of University of Ibadan (UI), Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) and the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) were purposively selected due to their years of existence. Proportionate and simple random sampling were used to select 70% of the active participants in each UBAESs to get 108 beneficiaries in UI, 126 in OAU and 140 in FUNAAB to give a sample size of 374 respondents. Structured interview schedule was used to collect data on respondents‟ personal characteristics, livelihood abilities (17-46 low, 47-106 high), social capital (14-26 low, 27-58 high), and physical capital (13-20 low, 21-55 high). Others are human capital (0-25 low, 26-130 high), and financial capital (12-22 low, 23-80 high), natural capital (4-21 low, 22-156 high), benefits derived from UBAES (3-12 low, 13-21 high), and livelihood activities (11-19 low, 20-57 high). The rest are food security (28-49 low, 50-80 high), perceived health status (47-66 low, 67-75 high), vulnerability to poverty (13-26 low, 27-73 high) and livelihood outcomes (73-120 low, 121-178 high). Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square, Pearson product moment correlation, ANOVA and linear regression at α 0.05. Respondents were mostly male (59.4%), married (73.0%), with age and household size of 43.1±15.60 years and 6.4±2.42 persons, respectively. Farming experience, record keeping, and professional group membership were 18.6±14.31, 8.6±7.31, and 14.4±2.89 years, respectively. Averagely, respondents belonged to three occupational groups and had low livelihood ability (56.1%). More respondents had high social (57.0%) and physical (51.1%) capitals, while human (58.6%), financial (56.1%) and natural (69.8%) capitals were low. Benefits of participating in UBAESs (57.0%) were high, but livelihood activities (56.7%) were low. Most respondents were food secured (65.2%), perceived health status and livelihood outcomes were high for 60.4% and 54.4%, respectively, while vulnerability to poverty was low for 61.0% of the respondents. There was a significant association between livelihood outcomes and educational attainment (χ2=0.196), and there was a significant relationship between livelihood outcomes and age (r=0.178), natural capital (r=0.146), social capital (r=0.282) and human capital (r=0.216). Respondents‟ livelihood outcomes significantly differed across UBAESs of UI (124.5±15.29), OAU (122.1±12.82) and FUNAAB (117.6±11.27). Livelihood outcomes were influenced by social capital (β=0. 185), UBAES influence (β=0. 154), human capital (β=0. 142) and physical capital (β=-0. 144). Beneficiaries of University-Based Agricultural Extension System in the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta had the lowest livelihood outcomes, while those of the University of Ibadan had the highest in southwestern Nigeria. Influences of University-Based Agricultural Extension System, social capital, physical capital and human capital are the determinants of livelihood outcomes across University-Based Agricultural Extension System