Effects of Socio-Cultural Factors on Effective Agricultural Training Programmes in Zone C of Benue State Agricultural Development Authority (Bnarda)

Effective capacity building depends among other factors on the clarity of the programme objectives, the ability and the expertise of the trainers as well as the socio-cultural environment within which the training will be conducted. Many well defined programmes with the right expertise have suffered rejection on account of unfavorable socio-cultural environments. This study thus focused on the Effects of Cultural Factors on Effective Agricultural Development Training Programmes in Zone C of Benue Agricultural Development Authority (BNARDA). Specifically, the study examined the socio cultural characteristics of respondents, identified some socio-cultural factors that may inhibit successful training and determined the effects of these factors on effective capacity building. Seven communities were purposively selected and 118 respondents were selected using simple random sampling technique. Percentages were used to analyze the data on the socio-cultural characteristics of respondents and the identified social-cultural factors. Logit regression was employed to determine the effects of selected socio-cultural factors on effective agricultural development training programmes. The results of the logit analysis show that educational level (3.398), gender discrimination (2.268), traditional beliefs (-.732) and leadership style (2.150) had significant effects on training for agricultural development at 10 percent level of probability. It was concluded that the communities are still tradition bound thereby posing problems for innovation dissemination. It was therefore recommended that extension agents and other stakeholders (development agencies) should intensify advocacy campaigns to predispose the people toward accepting possible training arrangements.