Adoption Level of IFAD Project Recommended Farming Practices among Smallholder Crop Farmers in Katsina State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study assessed the adoption level of IFAD-CBARDP recommended farming practices among smallholder crop farmers in Katsina State. Data for the study were obtained by the use of structured questionnaire. Multistage sampling procedure was employed to select 349 respondents. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. The result revealed that the mean age of the participating farmers was 46years, 91% were males, and a mean farm size of 3.21 hectares. The study also revealed that 87.2%, 83% and 82.73% of the respondents respectively adopted the use of recommended fertilizer, method and dosage of fertilizer application and the use of seed dressing chemicals. The result further showed that 16.9%, 15.2% and 14.6% of the respondents respectively identified low counterpart funding, untimely disbursement of funds and inadequate mobility of extension staff as the major constraints to the effective implementation of the programme. Generally, there was a high level of adoption of the recommended farming practices among the participating farmers in the study area. The study recommends that the funding of the project should be centrally coordinated, with contributions made by all the three tiers of government.

Keywords: Adoption level, IFAD-CBARDP, Smallholder Farmers.