Abstract
This study ascertained factors influencing adoption of improved maize seed varieties in three local government areas of Kaduna State, North-central Nigeria. It collected cross-sectional data for a sample of 180 randomly selected farming households across three local government areas of the State in 2015/16. Both descriptive and inferential analyses were performed on the data. The descriptive statistics differentiated adopters from non-adopters, while the inferential analysis involved estimation of a logit model to determine factors driving adoption of improved maize seed varieties in the study areas. The results of the descriptive analysis show significant mean differences between adopters and non-adopters regarding several farm households’ characteristics. The model results reveal that adoption of improved maize seed varieties among the households was positively influenced by age, household size, level of education, farming experience, labour availability, contacts with extension agents, farm size, off-farm income and membership of associations. Thus, the study concluded that improving farmers’ education, expanding coverage and depth of extension services and strengthening farmer associations are useful policy actions for promoting adoption of improved maize varieties. It is also important to address availability, accessibility and affordability issues constraining adoption, enhance credit access and mitigate risk perceptions. The link between researchers and innovators and the farmers who are the off-takers of their outputs should be reinforced to increase maize productivity in order to satisfy national demand and promote food security. Key words: Adoption, determinants, Kaduna State, smallholder farmers, maize.
Highlights
Maize is a staple food crop in Nigeria widely grown across agro-ecological zones as both subsistence crop and commercially, as raw materials for agro-based industries (Iken and Amusa, 2004)
Igabi local Government Area (LGA) with geographical coordinates 10°47′0′′N, 7°46′0′′E occupies an area of 3,727 km2 and has a projected population from Nigeria’s 1991 census of 581,500 in 2016
Birnin Gwari LGA with headquarters in Birnin Gwari is on coordinates 10° 40′0′′N, 6°33′0′′E, occupies an area of 6,185 km2 and has a projected population from Nigeria’s 1991 census of 349,000 in 2016
Summary
Maize is a staple food crop in Nigeria widely grown across agro-ecological zones as both subsistence crop and commercially, as raw materials for agro-based industries (Iken and Amusa, 2004). Maize production in Nigeria was estimated at 10.5 million tonnes in 2016/2017 (FAO, 2017). While consumption matched production in that cropping season, up to 200,000 tonnes were exported to Chad, Cameroon, Benin and Niger (as obtained from the Grain and Feed Annual Report of the United States Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service, 2017). Nigeria is currently implementing an Anchor Borrowers Programme in many maize-growing states in Northern Nigeria, designed to link anchor companies engaged in processing activities.
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