Table 5.34 Self-Reported Constraints Facing Male and Female Extension Agents in Ghana (percent) Constraint Lack of transportation Lack of funds or inputs Farmer-related problems Lack of staff Inputs not timely Low income Other Total
Male (n = 59) 33.9 23.7 20.3 6.8 3.4 5.1 6.8 100.0
Female (n = 10) 10.0 10.0 50.0 10.0 10.0 0.0 10.0 100.0
Source: ISSER/IFPRI Survey 2008. Note: Question was asked as an open question and postcoded.
number of female respondents is small.) This difference may partly reflect the fact that female extension agents are more likely to work with female farmers, who may face more obstacles to adopting new practices. None of the extension agents cited political interference as a constraint in response to an open question. However, when asked whether they agreed or disagreed with the statement “There is hardly any political interference in your work,” about 40 percent of both female and male extension agents disagreed. Setting performance targets can play an important role in helping organizations achieve their mission. Forty-seven percent of the extension agents reported setting their own targets. Most agents cite the number of farmers to meet as targets, and these numbers vary considerably. Very few extension agents indicate production-related goals as targets. Interactions between extension agents and political officeholders. Across ecological zones, a large proportion of extension agents had frequent (one to several times a month) interactions with individuals who hold political office in their area. The most common interaction (other than with farmers or supervisors) was with district assembly members, whom 75 percent of extension agents in the savannah zone, 52 percent in the transition zone, and 43 percent in the forest zone met (table 5.35). The large number of agents who meet with district assembly members may explain in part why political interference seems to be a problem in the savannah zone, where only 30 percent of male extension agents and 40 percent of female extension agents agreed with the statement that there is “hardly any political interference” (table 5.35). The percentage of agricultural extension agents that met an agricultural researcher at least once during the previous year ranged from 7 percent in the transition zone to 38 percent in the savannah zone, suggesting weak linkages between agricultural research and extension. (To put these figures in perspective,
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