Identifying the gap between the views of extension officers and members of farmers groups towards promoting sustained agricultural success in Trinidad, West Indies

Abstract

Successful farmers’ groups can play a major role in the rural development and food security needs of Caribbean communities. The lack of permanency of these groups, however, has provided the basis for numerous challenges with respect to their effectiveness in promoting sustainable agriculture in the Caribbean. This study attempts to identify what may be one barrier to farmers’ group stability in Trinidad, namely a ‘disconnection’ between the thinking of group members and that of the extension officers who serve them. Two focus group sessions and two structured survey instruments, administered by the researchers, were used to capture the perceptions related to farmers’ groups from extension officers (N=123) and farmers’ group members (N=293) in Trinidad. The structured survey instruments captured responses on an interval scale which returned scores at 1-unit intervals from ‘0’ (no agreement) to ‘5’ (full agreement) for the intensity of a respondent’s agreement with several item statements. The study revealed that there are gaps between the levels and types of service extension officers believe they provide to farmers’ groups and the support and interaction farmers feel they receive from agricultural extension in Trinidad