DOI: 10.36347/sjavs.2016.v03i01.004

Pages: 26-32

This work was designed to assess farmers’ attitude towards Health Extension Programmes (HEPs) in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State. Structured interview schedule was used to retrieve data from farmers in five (5) different communities in Gokana local government area namely, Biara, B-dere, Bodo city, Bua-Yeghe and Mogho. Data were collected from twenty (20) farmers in each of the above mentioned communities which summed-up to one hundred (100) farmers using the simple random sampling technique, but ninety seven (97) of them responded. The data collected were analysed with percentages, mean scores and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Results showed that females (56.7%) participated more than the male (43.3%) in HEP in GOLGA, majority of the farmers were married; most of the farmers were in their middle age (46 years). The farmers obtained their health information through traditional and modern means of information dissemination. Some major HEPs practiced by the farmers in the studied areas were vaccination, eating of balance diet, immunization, family planning, breast feeding, infant care, use of clean water, etc. Hypotheses one and three showed that there were no significant difference in the levels of awareness and adoption of health extension programmes in the communities studied while hypothesis two showed that there was a significance difference in the levels of satisfaction with health extension programmes in the communities. It was therefore recommended that government should enhance effective health extension programmes in the study areas, among which are: allocation of adequate budget to health centers, construction and completion of health centers to reach all GOLGA communities.