Effects of Farmers’ Level of Education and Cooperative Membership on Access to Agricultural Extension Services in Abuja, Nigeria

The study examined the effects of farmers’ level of education and cooperative membership on access to extension services in Abuja. A purposeful technique was adopted for sample selection while semi-structured questionnaires were used for data collection. A sample of 240 farmers made up of 30 cooperative and 30 non-cooperative farmers who had no formal education, 30 cooperative and 30 non-cooperative farmers who had primary school education, 30 cooperative and 30 non-cooperative farmers who had secondary school education and 30 cooperative and 30 non-cooperative farmers who had post secondary school education were used for the study. Two-way analysis of variance was used for data analysis. Results indicated that there was no significant difference (p>0.05) in cooperative and non-cooperative farmers’ access to extension services but the mean responses indicated that cooperative farmers had, slightly, more access to extension services more than non-cooperative farmers. Similarly, farmers’ level of education did not significantly affect (p>0.05) access to extension services although, the mean response value for farmers who had no formal school education but were members of cooperative societies was higher compared with others. Furthermore, there was no significant (p>0.05) interaction effect of cooperative membership and farmers’ level of education on access to extension services. Based on the findings, the paper concluded that farmers’ level of education and cooperative membership did not affect access to extension services.