Adoption of root and tuber technologies disseminated by the National Root Crops Research Institute in Anambra State

Abstract

The study examined the diffusion and adoption of National Root Crops Research Institute disseminated technologies and factors influencing them in Anambra State. Two agricultural zones of the State, Awka and Anambra were randomly selected for the study, out of the existing four Agricultural zones in the State. Structured interview schedule was used to elicit information from 171 respondents. The result revealed that a greater number of the respondents were within the age range of 41 – 60 years, and about 94.15% were educated at different levels. Five (5) out of the eighteen (18) technologies evaluated were adopted, while factors such as scarcity of inputs, high cost of fertilizer and labour, scarcity of planting materials, among others militated against the adoption of the technologies. Among the four functional form of regression models tried out, the linear model had the best fit and used in the analysis. The regression output showed that age, sex, farming experience and membership of cooperative societies were significant at 1% level of probability. Further efforts on promotion and popularization of root and tuber crops based technologies should be embarked upon to enhance more adoption of the Institute’s technologies and to increase the productivity of the farmers in the state.

Keywords: Adoption and Diffusion, Root and Tuber Crops Technologies, National Root Crops Research Institute