Utilization of certified seeds among smallholder rice farmers in Lavun Local Government Area of Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the utilization of certified seeds among small holder rice farmers in Lavun Local government area of Niger State, Nigeria. Data used for the study were obtained using structured questionnaire administered to 80 randomly selected rice farmers. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, constraints faced by the respondents. The multiple regression multiple model was to determine the factors that influence the respondents’ utilization of seeds. The study revealed that 41.2% of the respondents was between 45 years with the mean of 44.6 years. All the respondents were male, 88.8% of the respondents were married, 77.5% had formal education, 70.0% of the respondents had above 20 years farming experience with a mean farm size of 2.7ha. The respondents’ major sources of certified seeds, like farm yield, age, farming experience, education, credit access, labor and farmer’s were found to have significant and positive influence on certified utilization by farmers. The study also reveals that’s farmers were faced by some major constraints in their utilization of certified rice seeds, such as: irregular extension visit, inadequate credit, inadequate capital, high cost of certified seeds, inadequate training, poor supply of certified seeds, etc. The study recommended that more extension services should be made available to these farmers, certified seeds and other inputs should be subsidized and credit facilities should be readily available to the farmers to boost their capital and help them utilize more certified rice to increase rice productivity. Key Words: Certified seed, utilization, smallholder rice (Oryza sativa) farmers.