Determinants of farmers’ willingness to export yam in Ibarapa East and Ibarapa Central Local Government Areas of Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study was carried out to determine the factors affecting farmer’s willingness to export yam in Oyo State. This study used data collected from a multistage sampling of 80 yam farmers. Analytical techniques used include descriptive statistics and probit model. The results showed that majority of farmers in the study area are ageing, with a mean age of 57.21. It was also observed that there were more males (87.5%) than females (12.5%) and that 71.2% of farmers had formal education. The result of probit analysis showed that farm size (0.81, p = 0.002) was a significant factor determining the willingness of farmers to export. This means as the farmers' farm size increases so also is their willingness to export. The result also revealed that an increase in other occupation (0.96, p = 0.154) of the respondents will bring about an increase in their willingness to export yam. This suggests that farmers who had other sources of income might be more willing to export yam. It was therefore concluded that when more land is allocated to yam production and financial support is made available to farmers in the study area, their willingness to export yam would increase.