WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR PRIVATE AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION SERVICES BY FISH FARMERS IN UYO AGRICULTURAL ZONE, AKWA IBOM STATE NIGERIA

ABSTRACT Fish farming requires adequate information on innovations such as breeding and health management practices. Some farmers do not have access to those information due to many factors. The study examined fish farmers’ willingness to pay for pravite extension services in the study area. The specific objectives were to; describe the socio-economic characteristics of fish farmers; assess the information source and frequency of usage of the source; assess the knowledge level of respondents towards private extension services; identify the extension needs of fish farmers; determine fish farmers’ willingness to pay for extension services; and identify factors influencing fish farmers’ willingness to pay for extension service in the study area. The multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 120 registered fish farmers for the study. Primary data were obtained using a structured questionnaire that was administered to selected registered fish farmers. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as mean, frequency, and Logistic regression. The socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents showed that 51.7% of the respondents were males while 48.3% were females. The majority (60.8%) of the respondents were within 41 to 60 years of age, and 77.5% of the respondents in the study area were married. The majority of the respondents had a household size of 1-5 persons with an average of 10 years of experience. Four (4) sources of information were highly and most frequently used by the respondents which were; Extension agents with a mean response of 3.55, Contact farmers (3.01), Fellow farmers (2.81), and Veterinary services (2.52). About 38.3% of the respondents have a low knowledge level of private extension services. Similarly, 33.3% have good knowledge while only 28.3% of the respondents have average knowledge about private extension services. All identified extension services were highly needed by the respondenst and these were record keeping (3.50), method of improving fingerling breeds (3.45), construction of modern ponds (3.44), selection of fish species (3.42) water quality management (3.42) and fish formation technique (3.41). The majority (55.8%) of the respondents were willing to pay for private extension services but were constrained by inadequate capital (3.38), lack of awareness of private extension services (2.51), and feed formulation techniques (3.41).it is recommended that, government should provide support to public extension services by funding for good quality service delivery.