FACTORS AFFECTING ADOPTION OF RECOMMENDED CERTIFIED RICE SEED TECHNOLOGY BY FARMERS

This study examined the factors that influenced the adoption of recommended certified rice seed technology in four purposely selected rice producing Local Government Areas namely Chikun, Giwa, Lere and Zangon Kataf of Kaduna State. The specific objectives were to, describe the socio-economic characteristics of farmers in the study area, identify the sources of the recommended certified rice seeds and other farm inputs, describe the extent of adoption of the recommended certified rice seed technology, determine the socioeconomic, institutional and technological factors that influenced the adoption of the recommended certified rice seed technology, determine the effect of adoption on farmers’ yield, income and level of living, identify the constraints faced by farmers in the adoption of the recommended certified rice seed technology. Primary data were collected using structured questionnaire from 192 randomly selected contact farmers in four selected rice producing Local Government Areas of Kaduna State. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. The study shows that most of the farmers were in the age category of 40-49 years and 86% of them had formal education. The average farm size cultivated by farmers was 3.90 hectares while 80% of farm lands owned by the farmers were acquired through inheritance. Farmers’ major sources of recommended certified rice seeds and other farm inputs were from dealers and government. Extension visits was 86%. Only 28% of farmers were able to access credit. The average extent of adoption of the recommended agronomic practices was 57%.The recommended agronomic practices least adopted were the use of the recommended fertilizers and agrochemicals probably due to their expensiveness. The variables that significantly influenced the adoption of the certified rice seed technology at 5% level of significance were, years of formal schooling, membership of social groups and amount of credit accessed. Those variables that influenced the adoption of the certified rice seed technology at 1% level of significance were extension visits and trial ability. The F-value was 2.18 and was significant at 5% level which implied that the independent variables included in the model contributed in explaining the variations in the adoption of the certified rice seed technology. The effect of adoption was that farmers’ mean yields, income and level of living after adoption were higher than those before adoption implying that changes have occurred through increase in the yield, income and level of living of the farmers as a result of adoption of the certified rice seed technology. Farmers were constrained by limited access to credit, irregular supply of recommended seeds and other farm inputs as well as expensiveness of fertilizers and agrochemicals. It is recommended that government and the private sector should partner to provide adequate infrastructure, delivery and supportive services to farming communities in order to promote and sustain technology adoption. It is recommended that government should offer incentives such as relaxing tariffs on imports and levies on agricultural input processing equipment, manufacturing, blending and credit facilities to the private sector to enable them manufacture, blend and supply farm inputs to the majority of small scale farmers at affordable prices.

The development of new agricultural technologies, their wide spread diffusion and adoption has created a remarkable shift in agricultural practices leading to rapid agricultural productivity, the division of labor and specialization in agriculture which were absent in the hunter-gatherer cultures of early human history. Within the overriding objective of increasing aggregate agricultural output in the third world countries, a primary goal of agricultural development has been to improve the welfare of rural families through enhancing productivity of small farms and promoting equitable access to resources, markets and technical assistance (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2016).