Positions and Roles of Agricultural Extension Workers in Poultry Egg Marketing in Delta State, Nigeria

Abstract

The broad objective of the study was to describe the role of agricultural extension workers in the marketing of poultry eggs. A sample of one hundred and five (105) enterpreneurs of small and medium scale poultry farms and forty seven (47) extension workers was randomly composed.. The marketing channel for poultry eggs consisted of the producers, middle men/assemblers, wholesalers, retailers and consumer. The most important stages for advising farmers on egg marketing were the laying and packaging stages. There was a significant difference between total scores on role perception and role performance scores on the eleven (11) extension roles in egg marketing ( t = 19.892; p < 0.01). In particular, a significant difference between role perception and performance was found in the advisory services on egg grading ( t = 3.749; p < 0.01), advise on available markets for poultry eggs ( t = 8.233; p < 0.01), and provision of price information ( t = 6.095 ; p < 0.01). The role of extension workers in poultry egg production should go beyond the traditional transfer of proven layers to encompass the various egg marketing functions in order to improve the welfare of the poultry egg producers.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n2p197