Effect of Improved Farm Technologies Adoption on Productivity among Staple Crop Farmers of Nigeria Agricultural Transformation Agenda

Abstract

Agricultural technology development is an essential strategy for increasing productivity among farmers. This study evaluates the effect of adoption of improved farm technologies on output among staple crop farmers of Nigeria agricultural transformation agenda. Multistage sampling technique was used to select 220 farmers each of Staple Crop Producing Zone (SCPZ). Primary data were collected with the aid of structured questionnaires. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, likert scale rating and z-statistic. The results showed an average age of 47 years for cassava, 44 years for sorghum and 44 years for rice farmers. The is higher adoption rate observed among the farmers with weighted mean score greater than 3.00 cut off.. The average farm size put into cassava, sorghum and rice production were 1.91, 1.66 and 2.1 respectively. The average yield of cassava before ATASP-1 project was12, 096.11Kg/ha while the average yield after the project was double at 24, 292.23Kg/ha. Subjecting these yields to z-statistic test revealed that there was statistical significant difference between the yield before and after the project has taken off at 1% level of significance. Since there is positive impact of technology adoption impact on crop output of farmers who participated in ATASP-1 project it is therefore recommends that the volume of beneficiaries should be expanded so as to allow more people to benefit from the programme.