Agricultural Assistants’ Perceptions towards their Roles: A Case Study from Southern Province of Zambia

Abstract

Studies have been conducted in Africa to assess camp extension officers’ perception towards their roles, however, little is known about agricultural assistants' perceptions towards their roles, as per government job description in Zambia. It was a cross-sectional qualitative study undertaken from January to July 2023, in which questionnaires were administered to 100 agricultural assistants (AAs) to assess the AAs perception of their roles. The collected quantitative data was analysed by using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) computer program. The findings show that most of the interviewed AAs perceived their roles namely; training, technical support, and performance management as important. However, AAs are faced with challenges such as low camp extension officer to farmers ratio; inadequate support to extension service delivery; conflicting methodologies in extension service delivery between public and private sector players; poor extension planning, reporting, and feedback culture; and inadequate in-service and refresher training for AAs. Based on these findings, it is recommended that there is a need to work out all aspects that affect the performance of the AAs' mandated roles. To considerably address the challenges of AAs in Zambia, the study does, however, encourage the government to recruit additional AAs, organise in-service and refresher training for AAs to improve their knowledge and skills, and adequate support to extension delivery. This would assist AAs in carrying out their mandated responsibilities and, ultimately, improve the delivery of extension services for improving agricultural performance across the country.