Contribution of Pluralistic Agriculture Extension Service Provision to Smallholder Farmer Resilience

Abstract

The paper examined the relationship between pluralistic agriculture extension systems and the socioeconomic resilience of smallholder farmers in northern Uganda. A categorical regression analysis was conducted on quantitative data that were randomly collected from 308 respondents. The pluralistic agriculture extension service accounted for a 40% and 32% change in social and economic resilience respectively. The main factors that had positive and significant effects on socioeconomic resilience were the management style of extension agents and participatory monitoring and evaluation of smallholder farmer extension activities that caused less than half a unit fold of increment in socioeconomic resilience. Although small, they form the ground for farmers’ capacity to buffer, adapt to changes, and cope with stresses and disturbances. The F-values in the regression models are important in the prioritization of the significant factors during the design and implementation of extension models. The paper contributes to the ongoing discussion on the role the pluralistic agriculture extension system plays in enhancing farmer resilience and the use of quantitative methodological procedures in identifying the strength of the relationship between the factors.