Socio-economic Determinants of Job Satisfaction among Extension Officers in North West Province South Africa

This paper examines the socio-economic determinants of job satisfaction among extension officers in North West Province South Africa. This is predicated on the fact that the current implementation of the Extension Recovery Plan (ERP) in all the nine provinces in the South Africa to bring about agricultural improvement through effective extension services delivery is among other things dependent on job satisfaction among extension officers. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 40 extension officers and data were collected with a structured questionnaire and analyzed using frequency counts, percentages and multiple regression analysis. The results show that most of extension officers (82.5%) were males, between 40 to 45 years, married (85%0 and 87.5% had Diploma as educational qualification. Also, 54% had between 4 to 6 persons as household size, while 75% were Christians. Majority of the extension officers live in their job area (82.5), while 80% covered at least 3 communities and 3 farmers group. In terms of number of farmers covered, only 40%of the extension officer covered more than 500 farmers and 45% travelled more than 40 km to reach their farmers. Prominent areas of satisfaction among extension officers were research policies (3.77) work exposure (3.37) identifying farmers' problems (3.02) and opportunities to advance education (3.00). Significant determinants of job satisfaction were gender (t = 2.31), marital status (t = -2.27), working experience (t = 2.60), living in job area (t = -3.05), number of farmers covered (t = 2.00) and distance to farmers (t = -2.11). The study therefore recommends that policy makers and extension managers should pay attention to the items indicated for satisfaction and dissatisfaction by the extension officers with a view of boosting their morale for a higher level of performance. [Life Science Journal 2010;7(3):99-104]. (ISSN: 1097-8135).