ANALYSIS OF FACTORS AFFECTING ADOPTION OF NEW COCOA FARMING TECHNIQUES IN ONDO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study inquired the benefit of new cocoa farming techniques in Ondo State, Nigeria. To achieve the stated objectives, 120 respondents were proportionately selected from the two agricultural zones in the state through multi-stage sampling technique. Structured questionnaire complemented with oral interview where administered to the cocoa farmers and data collected were analyzed using both descriptive such as means frequency etc and probit regression model was used for inferential statistics. The result of this study showed that the mean age distribution of respondents was 56 years, 50.0% of the respondents had non-formal education 57.5% of the respondents were female while 42.5% were male. The result further revealed that the mean farming experience of the respondents was 20.0 years and the mean household size was 7.0. Result of probit regression shows that gender, farm experience and income are some of the factors affecting adoption of new cocoa farming practice in the study area. Furthermore, some of the major constraints to cocoa production in the study areas was that techniques take a lot of time ((χ =3.64). The study conclude that majorly adopted practices area weeding, pruning and shading of cocoa trees also majority of the farmers who carry out the farming techniques are more beneficial with reduction in cost of production, ease of paying children school fees, with better environment, healthier and more positive attitude towards the techniques. The study therefore, recommended that government and non-governmental organization should encourage farmers on the use inorganic fertilizer in their cocoa farm.