Determinants of Contact Farmers Adoption of Improved Cassava Production Technologies in Imo State, Nigeria.

Abstract

This study investigated the adoption level as well as the factors influencing the ADP contact farmer\'s adoption of improved cassava production technologies in Imo State of Nigeria under the Ecologically Sustainable Cassava production project (ESCapp) of the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA). A total of 120 ADP contact farmers and 30 extension agents who participated in this programme were purposively selected and data collected through a cross-sectional survey with the aid of a well-structured questionnaire. The data were analysed using the linkert scale method to determine the adoption level of the contact farmers while multiple regression analysis was used to isolate factors that are very critical to this study. The results showed that the grand mean adoption level of the farmers was 0.61 with the planting of improved cassava varieties having the highest adoption score of 0.72 while tillage practices had the least score of 0.49. The value of the coefficient of multiple determination (R2) was 0.879 implying that the farmers\' age (X1), educational level of the contact farmers (X2), level of extension contact (X5), availability of production credit (X6) as well as other farm inputs (X7) were statistically significant factors influencing the adoption of improved IITA cassava production technologies in the state. It is therefore recommended that these factors should be seriously emphasized and incorporated in policy formulation and implementation of adoption of innovations for the rural farmers in the state.

Keywords: Determinants, Adoption, Innovations, Policy, Project, Formulation, Implementation

Agrosearch Vol. 7 (1&2) 2005: pp. 12-21