Adoption of Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (IAR&T) Small Ruminant Technologies by Farmers in South Western Nigeria

Abstract

Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (IAR&T) is a multi-commodity research Institute that has generated adoptable technologies on small ruminant. The study investigated the adoption of IAR&T small ruminant technologies among farmers in South-Western Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 160 respondents for the study. Data were collected with interview schedule and analysed using descriptive (percentages and mean scores) and inferential (Chi-square and PPMC) statistics. Results revealed that majority of the respondents reared goats (86.9%), under semi-intensive management system (67.5%), for income generation (95.0%), and with 5.5±7.4 years of experience. Major modes of receiving small ruminant technologies/information were through Agbe asejere/IAR&T radio programme (x̅=0.82) and farmers’ guide (x̅=0.54). Use of pawpaw seeds for deworming (x̅=0.94), incorporation of crop residue in ration (x̅=0.94) and use of tobacco extract for treating parasites (x̅=0.87) were the most accessible small ruminant technologies to the respondents. Though constrained by high capital investment (x̅=1.50) and poor access to small ruminant technologies (x̅=1.21), the respondents’ rate of adopting small ruminant technologies was high (68.7%). Access to small ruminants technologies (r=0.518, p=0.000) and constraints (r=-0.305, p=0.01) were significantly related to adoption of IAR&T small ruminant technologies. The study concluded that readily accessible technologies were equally the most adopted ones. Therefore, it is recommended that IAR&T should endeavour to concentrate its efforts on making its technologies more accessible to end users.