The study examined the community counselling strategies for rural agro-entrepreneurship development in Gombe State, Nigeria. A three-stage sampling technique was used to select 186 community counselors, rural extension workers and entrepreneurs from the three Local Government Areas of the State. Data were collected using structured questionnaire and were subjected to descriptive statistics such as; the means, standard error and mean decision on a 5-point Likert scale rating for analysis. The result revealed that, majority of the perceived roles of community counselors in agro-entrepreneurship development in the study area was accepted. Implying that, rural counselors and extension workers have significantly contributed to agro-entrepreneurship and sustainable economic development in the study area. Also, the results revealed that, most of the perceived factors for effective implementation of rural agro-entrepreneurship programmes in the study area were significant. Furthermore, the findings of the study revealed the mean score of all the perceived counselling skills and strategies to be ≥ 3; meaning that the variables were significantly accepted. To achieve sustainable development in rural agripreneurship, the study recommends concerted efforts by the government in collaboration with various local and international agencies to provide more of agro-entrepreneurial capacity building programmes and other incentives to the rural communities.

The study examined savings determinants among small-scale millet producers in Gombe State. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 108 farmers from three autonomous farming localities of Dukku Local Government Area. Data were collected using structured scheduled interview and were subjected to both descriptive and inferential statistics for analysis. The results revealed the mean age of millet farmers was 45.99 years, most (52%) of which had family size range of 1–10 persons. The result also revealed the preponderant level of subsistence farm business, operated on average (3.8 ha) farm size by low annual income earners (₦ 293,978.46) with little or no formal education (7.06 years); having higher dependency ratio close to a unity; and had 21.26 years of experience. The coefficient of multiple determinations (R2) 0.9882; implies that 98.82% variations in the total savings were influenced by the socioeconomic characteristics included in the linear regression model. The results further revealed that, the aggregate farm income and farm size was significant (P<0.01) and (P<0.05), respectively. The dependency ratio was critical (P<0.01); thus, unit change in the dependency ratio leads to a decrease in savings by ₦ 43.06. However, diversification into the non-farming activities could improve the saving capacities of the rural households. Therefore, there is the need to encourage favorable conditions for rural investment, so as to enhance expansion into other non-farm activities. The higher level of income occasioned by the expansion in productivity could translate into a higher level of savings.