Assessment of Farmers’ Willingness to Adopt Rice-Cum-Fish Technology in Edo and Delta States, Nigeria

Abstract

Strengthening rice farmers’ economic profile requires seeking alternative production systems to boost their livelihood; however, of pertinent interest is the readiness of the farmers to incorporate recommended technologies into the existing production system. This paper, therefore, examines the adoption prospects of rice-cum-fish technology among rice farmers in Edo and Delta States of Nigeria. The technology was piloted by the Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research (NIOMR), and targeted at rice farmers with the hope of enhancing income and food security. Data were collected using a validated questionnaire from 355 farmers, sampled from 18 communities across six local governments in the study area. Analysis of data was done using descriptive statistics, logit regression, and binomial tests. Results revealed the farmers were aware of some of the rice-cum-fish production technologies especially when fish enter the rice field from the river/stream (47.89%). The majority (81.13%) of the respondents expressed willingness to adopt any of the rice-cum-fish production technologies, and Binomial test results (p < 0.05) indicate this proportion was significant, compared to those who expressed unwillingness. This indicates a high prospect for the adoption of the technology among the farmers in the study area, when introduced. Significant factors found to influence the respondents’ likelihood of adopting the proposed technology were age (b=0.08), sex (b=2.91), educational level (b=-1.22), farming experience (b= -0.08), farm size (b = 0.93) and intercrop status (b=1.15). The study thus recommends proper extension targeting of farmers to convince the latter of the need to adopt the rice-cum-fish technology.