Rice Production under Different Weed Management Technologies Adopted by Rice Farmers in Katsina State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated the adoption and profitability of weed management technologies for rice production, namely; oxidiaxon, pendimethalin, hoe weeding and farmers’ practice which comprised recycling of paddy previous harvest as seeds, use of hoe for land preparation, fertilizer broadcasting and use of family labour, only to mention a few. Data were collected using structured questionnaire administered to 294 randomly selected respondents across four locations, namely; Dandume, Albasu, Gyazama and Dantakari. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and gross margin analysis. The majority (96%) of the respondents had annual income ranging between less than N100, 000 and more than N150,000; 76% had extension contact and all had access to agricultural credit. The gross margin analysis indicated that rice production under different weed management technologies in the four locations was profitable with an average gross margin of N69,232.80, N90,592.80, N141, 073.30 and N22,789.30 per ha. with average return of 0.50, 0.70, 1.00 and 0.80 per naira invested for Dandume, Albasu, Gyazama and Dantakari, respectively. Also, rice production under pendimethalin weed management was more profitable in all the four locations whereas conventional farmers’ practice had the lowest profit. It was concluded that farmers should be encouraged to adopt the pendimethalin weed management technologies in rice production to reduce yield losses associated with weed infestation.

Keywords: Weed management technologies, Rice farmers, profitability, Profit margin.