Impact of Agricultural Extension on Adoption of Modern Technologies by Rice Farmers in Gboko Local Government Area of Benue State, Nigeria
- January 8, 2019
- Posted by: RSIS
- Category: Economics
International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume II, Issue XII, December 2018 | ISSN 2454–6186
F.O. Ogebe, G.A. Abu and N.N.Unjigha
Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria.
Corresponding Author: F.O. Ogebe
Abstract:-The study examined the impact of agricultural extension on adoption of modern technologies by rice farmers in Gboko Local Government Area of Benue State, Nigeria. Random sampling technique was adopted in data collection. Five (5) districts were selected and these include Mbatiav, Mbateriev, Mbayion, Ipav and Yandev. The study utilized Primary datawhich were obtained through survey using well-structured questionnaires which were randomly administered to 120 farmers. Secondary information were soueced from documents, journals, internet, and proceedings among others. Adopters of rice technologies forms the unit of sample in the study area .The data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results of the analysis revealed that 34 percent of the respondents were between the ages of 31to 40 years, 75pecrent were married, 46 percent were full time farmers, 26 percent were secondary leavers 34 percent had farming experience of 11 15years.Most respondents (38%) had farm size of between 1 3heatares, 40percent utilized family labor, 34 percent have household size of between 11 15, and 21percent obtained income less than N30, 000. The results also showed that all the respondents are aware of the rice technologies introduced in the area. However, the adoption rate of these technologies by these farmers is very low. Only fertilizer application had relatively high adoption rate (50%). The rest of the technologies had less than 50% adoption rate. The result showed that there was a difference in the output of rice before and after adoption of technologies with a mean difference in output of 520.11kg which was statistically significant (t=2.22: P<0.05). The results of the logit model analysis used to determine the effect of socio economic characteristics of farmers on adoption showed that farming experience and household size were not significant, while level of education, farm size, access to credit, age, and extension services were found to be the major determinants of adoption of modern rice technologies in the study area. It is recommended that, agricultural technologies should be directed towards younger and large scale farmers since they are more likely to adopt innovations than aged farmers and small-scale farmers.
Index Terms: Extension, Service, Impact, Adoption, Technologies.
