The study analyzed farm management extension services (FMESs) performed by the extension agents of Agricultural Development Projects in South West Nigeria. Study representatives were sampled randomly from Oyo ADP, Osun ADP and Ekiti ADP, making a 50% representation of the South-West. A proportionate sample of 80% of the total of the extension agents in each of the 3 case studies was randomly selected; making a total sample of 164 respondents for the study. Data were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics such as frequency counts, percentages and mean. Findings revealed that majority (76.8%) of the respondents were males, had higher certificates than ND (92.7%) and supervised more than 199 farmers (61.6%). However, more than half of the respondents were still new in the extension work with working experience of between 1-10 years (55.5%). The results further showed that only few of the change agents performed farm management tasks related to finance and marketing. The major constraints facing the extension agents in performing FMESs in the study area were lack of incentives, farmers’ illiteracy and inadequate training ranking 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively. This study recommends that extension agents should be trained more in the core aspects of FMESs which include linkage to finance and marketing. Also, extension professionals should be well motivated with incentives to ensure that FMESs are adequately rendered to their clients for increased productivity. پرونده مقاله

Due to various policies measures to curtail the virus, one of which was lockdown, the occurrence of COVID-19 had a negative impact on the nation's economy, especially the rural smallholder farmers. The study looked into how Covid-19 lockdowns affected Nigerian vegetable production. Descriptive statistics, budgetary approaches, multiple regression analysis, and a Likert scale were all used for the analysis. The findings show that most of vegetable growers in the research region were married women (88.33%). About 70% of respondents have completed at least their primary education. The multiple regression analysis results disclosed that number of extensions contact, farm size, market access and transportation cost were significantly affected the level of vegetable production with positive sign while household size had a negative effect on the vegetable production. The findings also showed that after the COVID-19 lockdown, vegetable production was extremely profitable in the study area, with an average gross margin of 82,836.04 that was statistically higher than the 60,709.97 gross margin generated from vegetable production during COVID-19 and the 71,234.91 gross margin generated prior to COVID-19. The constraints faced by vegetable farmers during the covid – 19 restrictions include: high cost of transportation, price fluctuation, and high cost of input, perishability of the produce and lack of improved seeds. It was concluded that Covid 19 pandemic has greater effect on vegetable production in the study areas پرونده مقاله