ABSTRACT

This study focused on the willingness to pay for extension services by smallholder oil palm farmers in Okada, Edo State, Nigeria with the objectives of examining the socioeconomic characteristics of the farmers and estimating the factors affecting the likelihood of the farmers to pay for extension services.  A proportionate sampling technique was adopted to select a sample size of 150 respondents from a sample frame of 300 small holder oil palm farmers from the list of registered/contact farmers in the area at 95% confidence level. A well – structured questionnaire was administered using a Contingent Valuation Method, to obtain  information that formed the data collected,  ranked with Likert Scale Model and analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages and econometric model such as Probit model. The descriptive statistics examined the socioeconomic features which showed that majority (67%) of the farmers were aged 45-65 years and were therefore in their middle/old ages; 77% of them had 1-6 persons in their households. The Probit result reveals that age, marital status, household size. transportation cost and distance from extension service points were the factors negatively influencing the likelihood to pay for extension services, while educational level, farm size, farming experience, income, availability of extension services and extension visits increased the likelihood to pay for extension services. It was recommended that adequate funding by government and non-government agencies to research institutes be stepped up, while younger educated people should be encouraged to take to oil palm farming.