Livestock is seen as a key asset for rural households and it is a principal source of revenue for rural commu-nities. It widens and sustains three major pathways out of poverty namely: (1) securing assets for the poor, (2) improving pastoral productivity and (3) increasing market participation by the poor. In most rural areas, livestock farming is greatly controlled by women. They make an average of 43% of the agricultural labour force in most developing countries (FAO, 2011). Rural women comprise two-thirds of low-income livestock keepers. They are engaged in activities related to small livestock production like poultry, sheep and goats (Thornton et al.,, 2003). Despite the high level of involvement in livestock activities, extension education which is intended to provide training to encourage large scale production among farmers is given mostly to men leaving the women with little or nothing to show (Ajaga, 2008). Women continue to face greater constraints than men in accessing natural resources, extension services, marketing opportunities and financial services. These within the  agricultural  sector  (Ajaga, 2008).  When  rural women have access and control over livestock or livestock products, positive impact is felt on overall well-being of the occupants particularly, in nutrition (FAO, 2012). Thus the quality of livestock is influenced by the perception of famers on extension delivery services. If extension agents devote more time in service delivery to women, the impact is seen on the quality of livestock produced by the female livestock farmers.

Many studies have been conducted on the impact of livestock farming on the livelihood of women but none has focus on the perception of female livestock farmers on the quality of extension services rendered to them. It is against this background that this study is undertaken to examine farmer’s perception on extension delivery approaches. Therefore this study is intended to find out how Mbororo women feel about new technologies being implemented to improve on the livestock production and to lay a framework on which extension agents should focus on when delivery extension services to the women.

Study area

The North-West region has seven administrative units namely:  Boyo, Bui, Donga-Mantung, Menchum, Momo, Ngo Ketunjia and Mezam. The region is made up of 34 subdivisions and 35 councils. Mezam division is the head quarter of North-West region. The region is found between Latitudes 5°40’ and 7° North of the prime Meridian. The population is estimated to be1.8 million in 2010 National Institute of Statistics (NIS, 2010). The surface area is 17,300 km² and a population density of 60 km². Almost all the lands are located in altitudes above 900 m. Its hydrology is made up of plateaus that are big water catchments, various water sources, large rivers, waterfalls and artificial lakes with high potential to generate hydroelectricity and enhance economic activities. Abun-dant rainfall contributes to the development of agriculture and forest regeneration. Three kinds of vegetation are present in this region: lowland forest, mountain forest and afro-alpine vegetation. They are mostly made of wildlife, crop production, medicinal plants, fertile soils, and non-Timber Forest Product and fishing points (Manu, 2014) (Figure 1).

N = the size of population

e= the margin of error (0.05) when the confidence level is 95%

Primary data was collected through structured questionnaires, interviews guides, observation guides while secondary data was collected through books, articles, journals. 

Data collection

Data was collected with the use of structured questionnaires and interviews guides. Considering the fact that the women are not very educated, most of the data were collected using Pidgin English, a “lingual Franca” language commonly spoken in the North-West region. In some cases translations were made from English to “fulfude’’ to those who were unable to understand the English language well. The questionnaires were filled by the researcher for purpose of efficiency. The questionnaires contain both open and close ended questions. The research design used for the study was both quantitative and qualitative method. A combination of these methods in this research was to achieve a deeper level of insight of the research in addition to statistical evidence to support facts. The statistical instrument used in analyses was the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20. The Spearman correlation coefficient test was used to test the hypothesis.Correlation is a bivariate analysis that measures the strengths of association between two variables.

Results of the study are presented in the form of various charts. Farmer’s perception on effective services delivery was test using modalities like “effective” and “not effective”.  Indicators examine were; organization of field days, farmers participation in extension services, field visits, demonstration methods, creating awareness (Figure 2).

Proper achievement of agricultural extension depends on good relationship with farmers. Women who participate (by take part in decision making, identify problems and propose solutions) in extension activities will have better access to knowledge and technology than those who do not take part in extension services. Taking part in extension work by female farmers will improve satisfaction and raise their level in livestock production. Figure 2 show that 76.6% of the respondent hold the believe that the livestock farmers themselves are not participate effectively in extension activities while only 23.4% feel that  farmers contribute  to effective  extension services. These results are not different from that conducted in Ethiopia which realized only 42.2% perception of female farmers’ participation in effective service delivery (Berhanu et al., 2014). Generally the results confirm that female livestock farmers in North-West region do not participate fully in extension services. In an interview with the sub-divisional delegate for livestock in Bamenda 1 up station who is also a Bororo woman herself confirm that Bororo women have a lot of limitations when it comes to taking part in extension services. They are more focused on child bearing and other social activities. According to this source of information, there is need to sensitize the Bororo women on the importance of taking full participation in extension services (Pelican 2012). To enhance participation of female farmers in extension and livestock services in the North-West region Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Development  need to properly mainstream   gender, participation in extension services. combine pro-poor development strategies and integrate literacy programmes into the routine extension activities (Figure 3).

An effective extension approach is based on close cooperation between farmers and extension staff (Birrer et al., 2006). This close cooperation with farmers will encourage better supervision and understanding the need of the farmers in order to identify their problems. Better results could be achieved by organizing more field days by extension agents through effective planning, proper and frequency in organizing field visit by extension staff and training programs in close collaboration with farmers. Results on Figure 3 show that 63.3% of the respondents believe that organization of filed days by extension agents is not effective. Yet 36.5% of the livestock farmers believe that the organization of field days by the extension agents is effective. However, the distance does not lead to the conclusion that extension work is effective, as extension agents are expected to spend more days with the livestock farmers so that they can become more acquainted to new technologies to improve on their livestock activities (Figure 4).

Farm visits are the most common form of personal contact  between  the  agent  and  the  farmer  and   often constitute over 50% of the agent's extension activities as it takes much of the agent's time. It is important to be clear about the purpose of such visits in order to schedule them with care. Results from Figure 4 indicate slight different perceptions of farmers on farm visit by extension agents. From these results 46.7% of the respondents feel that farm visit by extension workers is effective while 53.3% of the respondents feel it is not effective. These results are contrary to the one obtained by (Maoba, 2016) in South Africa that realized only 24.36% effectiveness on extension workers in field visit. Also, in cross river state Nigeria, extension effectiveness on farmer’s perception on farm visit was noted to be 65.55%. Agbarevo (2013) states that there are variations on effective farm visit in different countries depending on the availability of extension agents. These variations can be influence of hinder effective extension delivery services. For instance, if there are limited extensions agents in Cameroon than in Nigeria, farmers in Nigeria may have more access to extension agents than in Cameroon. However, lacks of effective farm visits can lead to farmers complain about invisibility of agricultural advisors and that could impact negatively on extension activities. (Singh et al., 2013).  It is important for agricultural advisors to visit farmers often. Visits should be meaningful and have a purpose in order to have a positive impact to the farming community. More attention is needed to reduce the current percentages of 53.3% of not effective visits to increase the percentage of farm visits by extension agents in Cameroon in general and North-West region in particular (Figure 5).

When farmers view extension delivery approaches to be effective, the impact is felt on the quality of products produce by the farmers as they will be able to apply learned technology on their farms. Results of the study indicated that the applications of the extension methods are perceived by the female livestock farmers not to be effective at all categories of extension services tested. It should be noted that effective agricultural extension delivery approaches can contributes drastically towards an improved livestock production leading to sustainable agriculture thus reduce food security and mitigate poverty. Weak agricultural extension can result in low or poor yield, leading to susceptibility that can cause economic depression (Amungwa and Nji 2015). Women suffer the consequences of inadequate extension delivery approaches because they are not given proper attention when it comes to policy formation. The results have shown clearly that the female livestock farmers have poor perception about the quality of extension services rendered to them. Most of the farmers hold the believe that, the extension services are not effective at the level of creating awareness, demonstration, organizing filed visit to name a few. The reason for none effectiveness can be seen both at the levels of livestock farmers on the one hand as seen on Figure 2 where about 72.3% of the farmers do not participate in extension activities and on the other hand the extension agents because there is limited awareness on extension services rendered by the agents in the communities. Therefore extension agents should foster to improve on developing more effective principles to ensure effectiveness in services delivery to the Bororo female livestock farmers especially the Bororo female livestock farmers in North-West region.

The authors have not declared any conflict of interests.