Abstract
Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L) Lam) is a very important staple carbohydrate food in sub-saharan Africa, and reputed for its capacity to tolerate marginal environments as well as high energy-fixing efficiency to produce high dry matter at a short period of time. It produces much dry matter per unit of time and contains high levels of vitamins A and C. Apart from the roots, the young leaves serve as green vegetable for man whereas the leaves and vines are cherished as fodder and hay by livestock. Sweet potato production technologies have been developed by the National Root Crops Research Institute, (NRCR) Umudike, and transferred to farmers in Nigeria in conjunction with state Agricultural Development Programmes. This study assessed the levels of awareness and adoption of the sweet potato technology disseminated by NRCRI to farmers and also determined the factors affecting the adoption of the technology. The multistage sampling technique was used in selecting the respondents using structured interview schedule as instrument. Data were collected from 270 respondents. The findings showed that the levels of awareness and adoption of the technologies were high. Age, education, riming experience, household size and farm size were factors that significantly influenced adoption, while the constraining factors to increased adoption of the technology were grouped into production complexity problems, economic problems, poor technical information and pathological problems. The study recommended the intensification of the dissemination of rapid vine multiplication techniques like the 2-node vine cutting technique, and rapid transfer of the integrated pest management technology on sweetpotato.Key words: Technology adoption, sweet potato, Ipomoea batatas
Highlights
Sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas (L) Lam), one of the most important staple carbohydrate foods in sub-Saharan Africa, is reputed for its capacity to tolerate marginal environments and high energy-fixing efficiency to produce high dry matter at a short period of time (NRCRI, 1987; Nwokocha, 1993; Ogbonna, Nwauzor, Asumugha and Emehute, 2005)
Sweetpotato production technology has been developed by the National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike, which has the national mandate for root and tuber crops of economic importance in Nigeria
About 51% of the respondents were males while 49% were female. This implies that gender distribution among farmers in sweetpotato production is skewed slightly towards male. This is at variance with the findings of Okwusi, Amamgbo and Asumugha (2005) which showed that female predominated in the production, processing and utilization of sweetpotato in South-eastern Nigeria
Summary
Sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas (L) Lam), one of the most important staple carbohydrate foods in sub-Saharan Africa, is reputed for its capacity to tolerate marginal environments and high energy-fixing efficiency to produce high dry matter at a short period of time (NRCRI, 1987; Nwokocha, 1993; Ogbonna, Nwauzor, Asumugha and Emehute, 2005). It is highly adaptable to relatively poor soils and erratic rainfall, has high productivity per unit land area and labour, and guarantees some yield even under the most adverse conditions It produces much dry matter per unit of time and contains high levels of vitamins A and C (Nwokocha and Onunka, 2002; Ikwelle, Ezulike and Eke-Okoro, 2003). Sweetpotato production technology has been developed by the National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike, which has the national mandate for root and tuber crops of economic importance in Nigeria The components of this technology include seedbed preparation, improved varieties, plant spacing, planting material, time of planting, weed control methods, fertilizer application, earthening up, pest and disease control method and time of harvest.
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