Abstract:
Public and private extension providers have been assisting farmers in Liberia but there has been no study done on services
they deliver to cassava farmers. This study therefore investigated the delivery system of public and private extension
services on cassava farmers. The study used quantitative survey in which 318 randomly sampled cassava farmers in the
Sanniquellie and Saclepea Mahn Districts were interviewed using an interview schedule. The study revealed that the
farmers were mostly males, have large household sizes, married, have low level of education but have vast cassava farming
experiences. Majority (88.6%) of the cassava famers under public and private extension services were in their active
working ages. Major sources of agricultural information were neighbouring farmers (88.4%), radio (86.8%) and other
farmers outside their neighbourhoods (71.4%). Nearly every farmer obtains his/her planting materials from their own saving
(95.3%), relatives (94.0%) and other cassava producers (69.1%). Farmers receiving public and private extension regarded
their involvement in extension services as very low, though public extension farmers were significantly more involved than
the private. The level of adoption of improved cassava technologies by both public and private extension farmers was low.
The perceived impact of extension services on farmers was regarded as low, but public extension was perceived to have a
significantly higher impact on cassava farmers than private extension
