ADOPTION DETERMINANTS OF IMPROVED RICE PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES IN JEMA’A, LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study examined adoption determinants of improved rice production technologies in Jema’a LGA, Kaduna State. To this end, 120 rice farmers were randomly selected comprising adopters and non-adopters. Structured questionnaire was used to elicit information from the respondents. Descriptive statistics, adoption index and probit regression model were used to analyze the data collected. The results revealed that majority (55.0%) of the adopters were between 21-40 years of age while majority (51.6%) of the non-adopters were between 21-40 years of age. Also majority (78.3%) of both adopters and non-adopters were male. A large proportion (53.3%) of the adopters had household size of between 5-10 people while 73.4% of the non-adopters had household size of less than 5 people. Large proportion of the adopters were literate while a considerable percentage of the non-adopters had no formal education. Majority (53.3%) of the adopters were members of farmers’ cooperative while just (33.3%) of the non-adopters belonged to farmers’ cooperative. Majority (50.0%) of the adopters has farming experience of 10-20 years while just (31.7%) of the non-adopters has farming experience of 10-20 years. Also 98.3% of both adopters and non-adopters owned their land. The rate of adoption of improved rice varieties was 66.7%. The major adoption determinants of improved rice production technologies include: age (p< 0.05). The major constraints faced by the adopters were soil problem, availability of fertilizer, birds’ invasion, flooding and lack of credit facilities. The rice farmers in the study area should be sensitized and mobilized to key into the federal government agricultural transformation programme.