Socio-economic determinants of adoption of improved millet production practices by farmers in Borno State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study analyses the adoption of improved pearl millet production practices by farmers in Borno State, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling technique was employed to select the sampled farmers. A structured questionnaire was used to interview 292 farmers across 30 villages in six Local Government Areas (LGAs) of two Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) zones. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data generated for the study. Findings on socioeconomic characteristics revealed that a greater proportion of both adopters and non-adopters were of the male gender, married and had farming as a major occupation. Results of ordered logistic regression suggested that farm size, farming experience, household size, extension contact, access to credit and awareness positively influenced adoption; whereas, age, annual income and cost of technology negatively influenced adoption. The most important problems associated with adoption of improved pearl millet production practices in the study area were unavailability of improved seeds, inaccessibility to farm credit and lack of extension support. Therefore, it is recommended that non-governmental organizations should complement government's effort in providing enabling environment for farmers to adopt improved practices through the provision of inputs such as improved seeds, fertilizer and agrochemicals. .

Keywords: Adoption, Millet, Farmer, Production Practices