The study was conducted to ascertain prospects of cooperative society for sustainable agriculture among smallholder farmers in Benue state, Nigeria. Data were collected from eighty (80) respondents using questionnaire. Frequency, percentage, mean score and factor analysis were used for analyzing data collected for the study. Findings indicate that about 39% of the respondents were aged between 41 and 50 years while 7.5% were aged above 60 years, among others. A greater percentage (63.8%) of the respondents were males with majority (88.8%) being married, 40% of them acquired tertiary education with 50.0% having a household size of 1-5 persons while 68.8% had farming as a major occupation. Savings and contributions (57.0%) were major sources of fund for cooperative society. Major reasons for joining cooperative society were access to credit facilities (38.8%), greater access to farm inputs (26.2%), raise standard of living (11.2%), among others. Results on benefits of cooperatives society include access to information (94.5%), increases members income and food security (91.8%), high productivity/ increase in output (90.4%), easy access to loan facilities (89.0%), improved market competition and expanded market opportunities (89.0%), pulling of resources together (86.3%), easy access to credit facilities (80.8%), greater access to farm inputs (75.3%), availability of labour (61.5%), etc. Factors influencing performance of cooperative society were named institutional, funding and input-related variables. The study recommends that there is need for timely provision of farm inputs for the farmers in order to increase productivity for sustainable agriculture. Adequate awareness campaign is needed in ensuring that farmers become members of cooperative society so as to pull their resources together for greater productivity.

This study examined the application of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in agricultural extension delivery services in Benue State, Nigeria. Forty respondents were selected. Primary data were used, and collected using a structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Research findings revealed that respondents had low level of access to ICT facilities, as the mean value of their access level for most of the ICT facilities was below the medium scale (2.00). The ICTs with high access were radio ( ̅ = 2.50), television ( ̅ = 2.35) and Mobile phones ( ̅ = 2.78). The respondents had a high usage of mobile phones ( ̅ = 4.00), radio ( ̅ = 4.00), television ( ̅ = 3.83), internet connected computers ( ̅ = 3.00) and printers ( ̅ = 2.08). The constraints to the application of ICTs by the respondents were infrastructural, financial and technical in nature. Based on these findings, it was recommended that ICT facilities be provided in the work places of extension agents, provision of infrastructure required for the operation of ICTs, and provision of financial assistance to extension agents with respect to procurement and maintenance of ICTs.

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This study was carried out to access information needs of pig farmers in Makurdi Local Government Area of Benue State. Pig farmers formed the population of the study. Purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used to select 82 respondents from 5 council wards from the study area. Data were collected using a well-structured questionnaire, and analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The research findings revealed that majority (52.44 %) of the respondents were married. Most (47.56 %) of the respondents were aged between 21-30 years, had formal education (95.12%) and a family size 5-9 persons (56.10 %). The result of the research also revealed that most of the respondents have been farming for 1-4 years (54.88 %), earn income of below N250, 000 (71.95 %) and had a flock size below 20 pigs (60.98 %). The major area of information need is in the control of pests and diseases (𝑥̅ = 2.04), feed (𝑥̅ = 1.98) and marketing (𝑥̅ = 1.84). The socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents that significantly affected their access to information need were education (W= 3.25) and farming experience (W = 4.26). Based on the finding of the research, it was recommended that information on disease and pest control be conveyed to the pig farmers by extension agents, and more extension agents employed to provide information to the farmers.