Trust , perception and effectiveness of extension services in Uganda : A case of National Agricultural Advisory Services ( NAADS )

In order to increase the effectiveness of extension services, the government of Uganda adopted a farmer driven extension approach in 2001. In this approach, the government contracts out the extension services to the agribusiness enterprises that provide the services to the farmers at a fee. This study aimed at finding out whether farmers’ trust and perception on this arrangement influences the effectiveness of extension services in terms increasing production, adoption of profitable enterprises and technologies and increase in marketable input. To achieve this, a survey was done involving 261 farmers in one sub-county that was selected purposively. Correlations among the study variables and regression models were done to establish the relationships and predictive powers of the study variables respectively. Results showed that farmers trust and perception on this extension approach is low and these have affected the effectiveness of the extension approach. The study recommends that for increased agricultural output, a holistic approach that builds trust among farmers is essential. This can be done through paying attention to farmers on a more frequent basis, encourage and maintain reliable relationships with them and timely delivery of extension services.


INTRODUCTION
Agricultural sector is a core sector of Uganda's economy in terms of its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), employment, as well as its contribution to ensuring food security.It is the most important sector of Uganda's economy, because it employs over 80% of the work force and contributes about 23.1% of GDP (UBOS, 2014).The sector has been and remains central to Uganda's economic growth and poverty reduction strategies (MFPED, 2014a).However, the sector's performance has been declining over the past decade (UBOS, 2014).The value added of the agricultural activities that include cash crops, food crops, agricultural *Corresponding author.E-mail: wturyahikayo@mubs.ac.ug.Tel: +256-957295.
Author(s) agree that this article remain permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License support activities, livestock, forestry and fishing is estimated to have grown at a meager rate of 2.7% during the calendar year 2013.In order to increase sustainable production, productivity and value addition in the agricultural sector, extension services are seen as a panacea to unlock and harness Uganda's opportunities.
Traditionally, agricultural extension services have been a preserve of the state owing to the fact that leaving extension services to the private sector would expose farmers to the consequences of market failures that characterize the forces of demand and supply which govern decision making in the free market economy.Many agricultural development analysts have also shown that a key cause of the inadequate performance of public extension is the ineffective incentive structures for public extension agents characterized by lack of information and feedback on different farmer groups' needs and priorities (Anderson and Feder, 2004).In view of such realities, private approaches to extension have been looked at as the appropriate answers to agricultural extension due to their demand-driven nature inherent in them (Birner and Anderson, 2007).Private agricultural extension is the provision of a service or advice by a private firm in exchange for a fee (Chapman and Tripp, 2003).The privatization of agricultural extension services in Uganda was implemented through the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) programme through an act of Parliament in 2001.This is a semi-autonomous agency of the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF).The effectiveness of this extension approach was to be seen in its ability to increase incomes of commercially active poor farmers through increased adoption of profitable agricultural enterprises and improved technologies and practices, agricultural productivity, and marketed output.
However, the NAADS programme faced a number of challenges associated with farmers' trust and perceptions of the programme that challenged the effectiveness of this demand-driven extension.The contracting process has been subjected to delays to the extent that services have always been provided during the planting season when farmers are too busy to attend the advisory meetings and in some cases planting materials delivered after the planting season.The capacity of the service providers has often times been limited to addressing general issues and concerns.Mangheni et al. (2003) reports that most service providers depended upon their old school notes as their major source of information implying poor articulation of the emerging agricultural challenges and technologies.
The major challenge inherent in the private-sector models of agricultural extension is to identify and put in place the needed conditions under which such models can work, considering the market failures characterizing private sector (Feder et al., 2011).To some scholars such as Parkinson (2009), private extension should be introduced in such situations only as part of a mixed Turyahikayo and Kamagara 225 system in which fully funded and delivered public extension remains as an essential component of the extension system.In Uganda, the NAADS programme is embedded in contracts between agribusiness enterprises and government.Companies have always been accused of focusing their advisory work narrowly on the crop that they buy or the input they sell, without addressing broader concerns, for example, poverty reduction and environmental sustainability (Anderson et al., 2000).As a result, the advice given to farmers, while reflecting the company's interest, may not be the most suitable to the farmer's situation (Baumann, 2000).
The NAADS program has further been prone to social exclusion and elite capture.Poor farmers and socially marginalized groups such as women, children and the disabled have played a limited role in the NAADS program.The representation of such categories is often low owing to the socio-cultural constraints they face (Meinzen-Dick, 2007).Although one way to deal with the elite capture and the social exclusion problems is the formation of specialized organizations, such as groups exclusively for women farmers, or the allocation of reserved seats for women and disadvantaged groups in participatory planning and management boards of extension systems; implementation of such a strategy has only remained on paper in Uganda.Due to the above challenges, government went further to adjust the implementation of the programme in 2014 by deploying soldiers in its implementation.In effect, questions relating to the efficacy of privatized extension services remain.Specifically, is this model a panacea for agricultural transformation in terms of increase in incomes, adoption of profitable agricultural enterprises, improved technologies and practices, increase in agricultural productivity and marketed output?Do farmers trust the approach as a credible, honest and reliable form of extension?This study intends to help understand the farmers' trust and perception about the extension system and how these have influenced its effectiveness.
Conceptual framework for the study is given in Figure 1.The model examines the relationship between trust, perception and the effectiveness of extension system in Uganda.Effectiveness of the programme involves changes in farmers' livelihoods as measured by changes in technology, incomes and productivity.Trust on the other hand involves integrity, reliability, commitment, and benevolence (Allen and Meyer, 1990).Literature has it that changes in behaviors and implementing new ideas is a function of influence generated from trust (Morgan and Hunt, 1994), integrity of the source and ability to inspire the recipients of the service (Weltevreden, 2007).On the other hand, perception is about changing the way people see things, shifting altitudes and creating recognition (Koufaris and LaBarbera 2002).In the adoption of new sources of agricultural information, perception is commonly seen in the perceived ease of use of this source and its perceived usefulness (Davis, 1989).

METHODOLOGY Research design
A cross sectional survey design was used in this study to provide an in-depth investigation of the relationship between the variables (Sekaran, 2000).The study was carried out in Nyakyera sub county-Ntungamo district, one of the first districts to implement the NAADS extension system in the country.In order to achieve the objectives, a correlation design was adopted to determine relationships between different variables and the questionnaires were formed on this basis.Both quantitative and qualitative data was used in data collection and analysis.

Study population and sample selection and size
The study population included all households in Nyakyera sub county of Ntungamo district.Nyakyera Sub County has a total population of 38,419 people distributed in 7,945 households.Of these households, 84.9% depend on subsistence farming and use rudimentary technologies (UBOS, 2014).The sub county has total land area of188.9sq.km and a population density of 203.
The researchers used a simple random sampling to select 367 households from Nyakyera Sub County using the Krejcie and Morgan (1970) procedure.The researchers then used systematic random sampling.

Data collection instruments
In the process of collecting data, both primary and secondary data was collected.A self-administered questionnaire` was the major instrument with the measurement scales of all variables using a five point likert scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree and was pre-tested and standardized focusing on issues related to the dependent and independent variables.Questionnaires were administered to farmers.Since most of the smallholder farmers are not educated, the questions for primary data were translated into the local language.Qualitative data was collected using an interview guide with key informants and focus group discussions involving sub-county chief, sub-county NAADS coordinator, subcounty cashier and parish chiefs.These were included because they are key implementers of the NAADS programme and understand the challenges that have been encountered by the programme.

Measurement of variables
The study utilized established measurement items by earlier researchers to operationalize and measure the variables under study.Perception was measured by the perceived usefulness of a new process, that is, private extension service as used in the technology acceptance model (Davis, 1989).Trust was measured using the Doney and Canon (1997) instrument basing on farmers' perception of the programmes' integrity, reliability, commitment and benevolence.Effectiveness of NAADS program was measured using the objectives of the program which include; increase in incomes, increase in adoption of profitable agricultural enterprises, improved technologies and practices, increase in agricultural productivity and increase in marketed output.

Procedure of data collection and analysis
The researcher, through the sub county leadership was introduced to the farmers in the sub county.The survey questionnaires were administered to the farmers in their local language.To reduce the common method variance bias in the data collected from the same persons on a single period of measurement following Podsakoff et al. (2003) recommendations.This was done by separating predictor and criterion variables sections in survey questionnaires, insure response confidentiality, and explicitly assure the participants that there would be no right or wrong answers to the survey questions.
The captured data was analyzed using both descriptive and correlation analysis.Quantitative data was sorted, coded, edited and classified into categories using the SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Scientist).Cross tabulation was used to give a general description of categorical data such as age and gender.Correlation and regression were used to establish the strength and direction of relationship between the variables and qualitative information was used to gain deeper insights into the quantitative findings.

Demographic characteristics
The study used a household as the unit of analysis and a household head as a unit of inquiry.The household head was assumed to be the husband or wife in the home because these possess enough agricultural information.There were 261 responses constituting 71.7% response rate.It was noted that females constituted 66.3% with gender having a mean value of 1.6628 which implies that females constituted the majority in the sample.This could be attributed to the fact that women spend most of their time near homesteads while men are away in off-farm activities.In terms of marital status, majority of the respondents were married constituting 62.5% of the total sample as shown in the Table 1.
From the Table 1, majority of the respondents were in the age bracket of 40 to 49 years followed by those above 50 years.Generally, these two categories constituted 73.5%.This reflects the fact that majority of the farmers in Uganda are the aged as the youths occupy nonagricultural activities.It was noted that most of the respondents (51.5%) had not attained any formal education with education having a mean value of 1.6873.In fact, it is observed from the sample characteristics that as formal education increases, employment in agriculture reduces implying that the educated seek for employment in non-agricultural activities.

Farmers' trust, perception and effectiveness of the agricultural extension services
The fundamental question for this study was to find out whether farmers trust and perception affect the effectiveness of the country's extension services.The Pearson (r) correlation coefficient was used in testing for the relationships among these study variables.
From the study, all the components of trust correlated positively with the perception of farmers on extension services; integrity (r=0.195**,p=0.002), reliability (r=111, p=0.75), commitment (r=0.213**,p=0.001) and benevolence (r=0.107,p=0.088) (Table 2).This implies that as people trust a system, they develop a positive attitude towards it.Results show that integrity and commitment of extension service providers significantly influence the perception that farmers develop on extension systems.The correlation between people's perception and effectiveness of extension services was found to be significant (r=0.173**,p= 0.05).The study further shows that the constructs of trust were positively correlated with the effectiveness of extension services.However, integrity was not significantly correlated with effectiveness (r=0.094,p=0.132).The rest of the constructs were correlated with effectiveness in the magnitudes of (r=0.236**,p=0.000), (r=0.156*,p=0.012) and (r=0.245**,p=0.000) for reliability, commitment and benevolence, respectively.
From the results, it was clear that majority of the respondents have negative perception on the extension system (Table 3).In fact, 55.9% strongly disagreed that they are able to accomplish their farming business in time due to the available extension services.Furthermore, 50.6 and 51.7% of the interviewed farmers disagreed that the private extension services enhanced their farming procedures and made it easier to get the services they need respectively.

Regression analysis
The results of the regression model were examined to establish the degree to which trust and perception predict the effectiveness of the extension system.
Among the predictors of effectiveness of the extension service, it was noted that benevolence was the leading predictor with (Beta=0.174),followed by reliability (Beta=0.164).The least predictor was integrity with a beta value of 0.022 (Table 4).This means that reliable extension services in terms of quick and timely delivery of services are fundamental requirements for the effectiveness of extension systems.The model predicts only 10% of the variations in the effectiveness of extension services (R Square=0.100).This would mean that although important, the effectiveness of the extension services needs just more that farmers' trust and perception.

DISCUSSION
From the results, the various constructs of trust were found to have positive correlation with the effectiveness of extension services although integrity was not significantly correlated with effectiveness.One of the reasons integrity was not significantly correlated with effectiveness is reinforced by the qualitative information from the field in which farmers were not aware whether the extension service providers were corrupt or not.As one respond narrated "…..I am interested in getting planting materials whether the officers are eating money or not.We do not know how much money officers were given and we do not know how much they ate.For us, we want planting materials……".Overall however, since most of the constructs were significantly correlated, it can be inferred that the effectiveness of extension services requires strong building blocks in social trust.The results of this study have shown that trust is probably the starting point to explain farmers' behavior towards the effectiveness of a government programme.These results imply that the capacity of Uganda's extension system to act competently and reliably, taking the right decisions in the interest of farmers, remaining close to them and showing strong concern for their interests was a major hindrance to the effectiveness of the extension system.These findings are consistent with studies by Cechin et al. (2013) who found a significant and positive relationship between commitment and favorable individual behavior towards a programme.The correlation between people's perception and effectiveness of extension services was also found to be significant.This means that as people perceive the programme positively, its effectiveness increases.This is in consistent with Davis (1989) who found that the overall feelings or attitudes toward using a system or procedure represent major determinants as to whether or not individuals will ultimately use the system for improving effectiveness.From qualitative data, one of the factors affecting the effectiveness of the extension was the expectations that farmers had from the extension.Whereas government's objectives in the private-sector led extension was to increase production, farmers' incomes, adoption of profitable agricultural enterprises, productivity and improved technologies, farmers expected some extra services such as marketing and information on climatic changes.One farmer narrated "we planted a lot of maize last year but the rains delayed to come, so we wasted our money yet we are told that government knows when there is going to no rain, a lot of rain etc. even when we are lucky to harvest, traders cheat us and we do not get a lot of income from our produce…….".This means that farmers expected more than just provision of high quality seeds which is the major preoccupation of the current extension services.These findings on trust and perception further suggest that, private extension is not a perfect substitute of public extension but the two should work in a complementary manner.These findings are in line with Parkinson (2009) who recommends that private extension should be introduced in such situations only as part of a mixed system in which fully funded and delivered public extension remains as part of the extension menu.The low perception of farmers on private agricultural extension delivery was partly because of the delays in delivering planting materials.As Mangheni et al. (2003) found out, one of the weaknesses of the extension system in Uganda is the contracting process that has been subjected to delays, so that services are provided late during the planting season when farmers are too busy to attend the advisory meetings and providing planting materials after the planting season.
Results further showed that an important source of low perception originated from the discriminatory provision of the services.The poor and the disadvantaged were left out of the privatized extension services especially where agribusiness firms supply seeds for the product they want to buy after harvest.One farmer narrated "….you see when they are giving seeds, they look for big farmers and relatives.I am a widow with little land.All of us have never been given seeds but even the people who received seeds were given when the rains had stopped".In such a case, the extension services have not been pro-poor as earlier conceived.Indeed, private extension services delivery seemed not to have enhanced and quickened farming procedures in getting the needed extension services.These findings agree with Baumann (2000) who found out that companies always focus their advisory work narrowly on the crop that they buy or the input they sell, without addressing broader concerns of the population, for example, poverty reduction and environmental sustainability.It can therefore be deduced that lack of integrity originates from the fact that corruption, favoritism and intrigue result into the poor perception, attitude and ultimately reduce the effectiveness of the extension system.

Conclusion
From a practical point of view, these findings show that it is useful to create the conditions which generate farmers' trust because it explains the effectiveness of the extension system.The extension staff needs to demonstrate their reliability and commitment through the advice they give to farmers, whether this advice is technical, economic, strategic, environmental or regulatory in nature.This research contributes to a better understanding of the effectiveness of government's extension programme.The study shows that farmers' trust and perception impact on the effectiveness of the extension services.Therefore, extension service providers should pay attention to farmers on a more frequent basis, encourage and maintain reliable relationships with them.However as the regression model shows, several other factors require extra attention.The extension system should therefore integrate services a multiplicity of services such as climate early warning systems, marketing and storage advice as well as facilitate the formation of farmer organizations and institutions that can enable the disadvantaged to penetrate the markets.There is a need to re-align both the supply of advisory services and demand for the services from farmers such that the services supplied are the services actually demanded by farmers.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Conceptual framework for the study.Source: Developed from literature.
Source: Primary data.

Table 3 .
Farmers' perception on extension services.