Factors influencing adoption of improved rice production technologies by rice farmers in Sokoto State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated the factors influencing adoption of improved rice production technologies by rice farmers in Sokoto State, Nigeria. The research involved 203 respondents from four Local Government Areas and 12 villages that were randomly selected. Questionnaires were used to collect data which were interpreted using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results revealed that the mean age and household size of the respondents were 39.77 and 12 years, respectively. The mean duration of formal education was 4.54 years while that of years spent in rice farming was 19.08 years and 70.44% don’t have access to credit with 52% perceiving credit as highly important in rice farming. Also, 98.03% of the respondents were aware of seed of improved varieties while planting technologies was the most adopted technology by farmers. The logit estimate established years of formal education, years spent in rice farming, sources of information, farm size, and age as determinants of adoption of improved rice production technologies in the study area. The main constraints encountered by the respondents are credit unavailability, non-membership of associations and difficulty in use of some technologies. The study recommended that farmers should be supported with credit facilities by government and non-governmental organizations in the study area.