Disability inclusive competency needs of agricultural extension agents in Ghana

Purpose: The need to deal with the inadequacies in disability inclusive extension advisory services by agricultural extension agents to farmers with disabilities informed this study which determined the competency need of extension agents to delivery disability inclusive extension advisory services in Ghana using the Borich needs assessment model. Methodology: Data on competence of task related with disability inclusive extension advisory services were collected from 528 agricultural extension agents in all sixteen administrative regions in Ghana. Structured questionnaire was developed based on the Thomas Durand's (1998) competency theory which states that competency is a function of knowledge, attitude and skills. 63 items (21 each for knowledge, attitude, and skills) on the a five point Likert type scale was used for data collection. The instrument was hosted on Google form for easy accessibility and administration to the respondents. After two months of data collection from September to October, 2022, 528 Agricultural Extension Agents responded to the online survey. The data were analysed using means, ranks, discrepancy score (DS), weighted discrepancy score (WDS), and mean weighted discrepancy score (MWDS).