DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION SERVICES

The Department of Agricultural Extension Services, established in September 1975 is the most recently established Department in the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry.

The Department co-ordinates the extension activities of the other Departments in the Faculty, with which it has excellent and close working relations. A pilot Project on Rural Development in 30 villages in Oyo State is being run by the Department, and this project area serves as unique laboratory for rural development to both students and stall� of the Faculty. The project activities are planned and executed in close liaison with the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine and the Department of Adult Education of this University, the Oyo State Ministries of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Trade and Cooperatives, the Oyo State Agricultural Credit Corporation, The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture and the Institute of Agricultural Research and Training, University of Ife.

The Department also operates a Joint Programme of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ibadan and the Bendel State Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources for agricultural and rural development. The important objectives of this programme are to assist the Ministry in improving the efficiency of its staff by imparting suitable training and conducting adaptive trials cum demonstrations at the village level. The programme, initiated in the 1977/78 session, also aims at improving the quality of agricultural planning and extension services.

The Department has teaching and research expertise in agricultural extension, rural sociology and human ecology. Postgraduate students are expected to participate actively in the Pilot Project on Rural Development which gives them a thorough insight into the practical aspects of rural development. Students are also required to elect some courses - preferably technical agriculture, economics and sociology - in other Departments, which would help them in their jobs. With this broad training, they will then have a wide range of employment opportunities in Government ministries and other agencies, as extension and community development personnel, research analysts, and teachers. Job opportunities which exist in companies, and industries include the following: extension specialists, salesmen, administrators, personnel managers and information and public relations officers.