Abstract

This study determined policy initiatives for improving the contributions of university agricultural education and extension institutions to environmental and sustainable development (ESD) in agriculture. The study was carried out in Cross River State. Survey research design was adopted for the study. The population for the study of 534, comprising 195 registered farmers who have continuously participated in ADP farmer field school training from the State; 70 graduate extension personnel; 167 final year agriculture students and 102 lecturers. Agricultural education programme in the Universities in Cross River State was used for the study. The study adopted a triangulation technique involving mixed methods of data collection. Both instruments were face validated by three experts in the field of agriculture with a reliability coefficient of 0.83 obtained through Cronbach alpha reliability method. Data collected were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and independent t-test statistic. The study identified (17) policy initiatives that could improve the contributions of agricultural education and extension institutions to ESD in agriculture in Cross River State. It was recommended among others that the identified policy initiatives should be integrated into university agricultural education and extension institutions and properly implemented.

Key words: Policy, initiatives, improvement, agricultural education, environmental and sustainable development.