Abstract

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Agricultural and rural development responsibilities are major activities of Local Government Councils (LGCs) in Nigeria. The study ascertained present agricultural activities of Local Government Areas in Southeast, Nigeria as observed by farmers, ascertain agricultural activities carried out by farmers under various agricultural development agencies and identified challenges that militate against performance of LGCs in agricultural development. Questionnaire/interview schedule was used to collect data from 240 farmers selected using multistage and simple random sampling technique. Data were analyzed using frequency, mean score and standard deviation. Agricultural development activities of LGCs include buying and distributing fertilizer, acquisition of land for agricultural programmes such as Growth Empowerment Support Scheme, production of livestock, tree planting programme, animal feed formulation, educating farmers on safe handling of pesticides and insecticides, among others. The major factors inhibiting achievement of LG agricultural activities include poor staff remuneration and allowances (M= 2.9), poor logistic support for field staff (M= 2.8), poor and shortage of skilled manpower/extension personnel (M= 2.7) and poor job description of staff (M= 2.6), among others. The study therefore highlights the need for the LGCs’ administration to improve on constitutionally prescribed agricultural development activities in order to enable farmers to be beneficiaries thus increasing productivity as well as raising their standard of living.

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