ADOPTION OF IMPROVED RICE PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES AMONG SMALL-SCALE FARMERS IN AYAMELUM LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF ANAMBRA STATE
Keywords:
Adoption, Rice production, Improved technologiesAbstract
The study examined the adoption of improved rice production technology among small-scale farmers in Ayamelum Local Government Area (LGA) of Anambra State. It described the socio-economic characteristics of the farmers, examined the level of adoption of improved rice production technologies, analyzed the socio-economic factors affecting adoption of improved rice technologies and identified constraints limiting adoption of improved rice production in the study area. Data were collected with a well-structured questionnaire from a cross section of randomly selected 50 rice farmers. The objectives were achieved with a combination of analytical tools such as descriptive statistics, multiple regression and mean threshold of five pointlikert scale. The study revealed that female (62%) dominated rice production in the area with a mean age of 40.16 and mean farm size of 0.4ha. Farmers in the study area have adopted site selection, timely planting, proper fertilizer application; improved seed and many more by level of adoption majority (62.0%) of the farmers have high level of adoption of the improved rice production technologies in the area. The study further revealed that sex (2.20)**, age(3.43)**, household size(2.04)** and farm size(1.67)* are the socio-economic variables that influenced adoption. The most important constraints were inadequate finance (4.44), low level of education (4.06) and high cost of inputs (4.04). The study concluded that there exist high levels of adoption of improved rice production technologies in the area, thus farmers in the area are aware of them and are using them. The study recommended reducing input costs through subsidies, improving farmer’s education and increase number of extension field officers to guide the farmers.