Adoption of some NRCRI, Umudike, disseminated technologies in Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Abstract

The paper examined adoption status of selected farm technologies  developed and disseminated by National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike to farmers in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. A field survey was conducted in one randomly selected agricultural zone (Ebonyi North) of the State. Two extension blocks, were randomly selected out of the 6 in the zone. In each block, two circles out of 8 in each block were randomly sampled as well. Twenty five farmers were similarly sampled for each circle. Thus a sample size of 100 respondents was selected for the study. Structured  questionnaire were used to collect vital data for the study. Data collected were analyzed by descriptive statistics and multiple regressive analyses to
determine factors affecting adoption of the technologies. Results of the analysis showed that out of the 35 technologies examined, 8 had high level of adoption, 17 were at moderate level while adoption level was low in 10 technologies. Also results of the study showed an R2 of 0.958 indicating that 95.8% of variation in adoption of the technologies was accounted for by the variables considered in the study. Specifically the results indicated that age, extension contact, and income were significant but negatively influenced adoption of the technologies. However farming experience,  education, extent of involvement in farming, had significant and positive influence on adoption of the technologies. There is therefore the need to intensify promotion of the technologies to improve awareness for increased adoption.

Keywords: adoption, disseminated technologies, farmers, constraints, Ebonyi state.