Farmers\' Characteristics And Adoption Of Recommended Practices Under The Fadama Project Scheme In Edo State, Nigeria

The study focused on farmers under the fadama project scheme in Edo State, Nigeria with emphasis on the relationship between farmers\' characteristics and adoption of recommended technologies. Analyses of data obtained from a random sample of 80 respondents reveals that fadama farming was dominated by females (62.5%), most of whom were married (77.5%), above 32 years (77.5%), and poorly educated. Gender, educational and household characteristics of respondents were significant determinants of respondents\' adoption of fadama-related technologies, accounting for about 39% of variability in adaption. High costs of water pumps, lack of agro-chemicals (fertilizers) and inadequate funds were major constraints to respondents\' adoption of recommended practices. Farmer organization into cooperatives and increased agricultural extension education to enhance communication were recommended Keywords : Farmers, Recommended Farm Practices, Fadama, Nigeria. Global Journal of Agricultural Sciences Vol. 7 (1) 2008: pp.45-48


INTRODUCTION
Food production in Nigeria since the mid 1960s has failed to respond adequately to increases in food demand. According to Umoh and Adegeye (2000) the increasing demand for food arising from an expanding population growth which has resulted in exploitation of previously unused land resources, including wetland (fadama), for the production of additional food. This exploitation was intensified in 1975 when the Federal Government established the River Basin Development Authorities (RBDAs) to harness Nigeria's water resources for increased agricultural production and improved quality of life in the rural areas.
Further actions by the Federal Government to fully utilize the ground water potential and the moisture reserve in the fadama resulted in the establishment of the National Fadama Development Project (NFDP) in 1993, which focused on small-scale farmers. The scheme, coordinated by the Agricultural Development Programme (ADP), sought to empower farmers by constructing tube wells, wash bore, purchase of petrol-driven water pumps for lifting water from the shallow (tube) well, as well as, encouraging adoption of improved technologies (Ingawa, 1998;Babalola, 2002). The operation of the Fadama Development Project (FDP) commenced in Edo State in 1996, having as objectives the improvement of small-scale irrigation management, organization of Fadama Users Associations (FUAs) and training of farmers in use of improved farm technologies. Crop like, rice, maize, cowpeas and vegetables are cultivated in the FDP.
The assertion that it would take almost 30 years before the full potential of the fadama scheme is realized (World Bank, 1992), justifies an investigation into fadama farmers' response to improved farming practices recommended under the programme. Studies on the fadama project are scanty, especially in Edo State. A study on Kebbi State fadama focused on its impact on the wealth status of farmers by employing such qualitative indices as ownership of transport (e.g. motor bike, camel and bicycle), media facilities (television and radio) and personal house (Ramalan et al. 1998;Babalola, 2002).
Concerns over farmers' response to recommended farm practices hinge on the realization that if the full potential of the scheme is to be realized, then they must be willing and be seen to adopt recommended innovations. Agricultural development, inclusive of fadama development, is sometimes perceived as the degree to which farmers adopt recommended technologies (Ogbimi, 1997), which shows how critical innovation adoption is to fadama development. Buttressing this point Nonyelu (1997) also emphasized the need to improve farmers' practices if the objective of increased food or land (fadama land, inclusive) productivity is to be attained.
Studies on adoption have been primarily concerned with crops cultivated on dryland areas and examining factors (social and economic characteristics) affecting adoption (Obinne, 1991;Odiaka et al. 1997). Important questions that arise are: (1) what are the recommended wetland production technologies? (2) What are the farmers' responses to these modern farm practices recommended in wetland farming i.e. the fadama programme, and (3) how are their adoption decisions affected by their personal characteristics with particular reference to Edo State? The answer to these questions is hinged on the objectives of the study as stated below; (1) to identify personal characteristics of farmers involved in the Edo fadama project (2) to assess farmers' adoption of improved technologies associated with fadama farming (3) to examine limitations to farmers' adoption of these practices and (4) to determine how farmers' adoption decisions are influenced by their personal characteristics.
The study will address the null hypothesis that personal characteristics of farmers are not significant determinants of their adoption of recommended technologies.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The fadama project in Edo State is implemented in the south and north zones of the State. The south zone, which was purposively chosen, has 4 communities in which the fadama project is implemented. These are Orogho with 6 registered Fadama Users Associations (FUAs). Ogba with 2 FUAs, Idundolor (1) and Ugbokulu/Emma (1). Orogbo and Ogba communities were purposively chosen because of the larger concentrations of fadama users (farmers).
Proportional random sampling was used in the selection of 50% of the FUAs, which translates into 3 and 1 FUAs from Orogho and Ogba communities respectively. Eighty percent (80%) of members of each Association were randomly sampled, giving a total of 86 respondents (table 1). Six (6) copies of the retrieved questionnaire were improperly filled and therefore rejected in the final data analysis. The data collection instrument (questionnaire) was first evaluated for validity through expert consultation, while its reliability was tested using the test-retest method. The reliability coefficient (r = 0.91) confirmed the instrument's reliability.

Model Specification
Multivariate regression analysis (Olayemi, 1998) was used to isolate the effect of farmers personal characteristics on adoption of fadama -related practices. The explicit form is specified as: Y = a+b 1 X 1 + b 2 X 2 + b 3 X 3 + b 4 X 4 + b 5 X 5 Where: Y = Dependent Variable (Number of improved practices used by respondents) X 1 = Sex (Dummy: Male = 1, Female = 0) X 2 = Age (years) To determine the best fit model four functional forms were evaluated based on the following criteria (Olayemi, 1998): magnitude of the adjusted R 2 , significance of the estimated parameters, and standard error of estimates.
Based on these criteria the linear function was chosen as the lead equation. To test for the significance of the parameters the t-test statistics was used while the F-test was used to assess the significance of the adjusted R 2 .

Personal characteristics of respondents
Result of Table 2 shows that females constituted the dominant participants in the fadama project scheme in Edo, implying that they are the major producers of vegetables (vegetable is the dominant crop cultivated in the fadama Programme) in the study area. Several studies have shown that women constitute almost 90% of farmers in developing countries (Omokhudu, 1999) and about 79% in Nigeria (Deji et al 1996). This finding confirms the importance of women in agricultural production. Most respondents were married (77.5%) with a modal household size of 5 -8members (51.3%), which suggests they have responsibility of catering for, household members. The majority (77.5%) of respondents was above 32 years old and their mean age of about 37 years confirms that they are relatively young and active farmers. Old age is known to limit productivity of farmers. The results also reveal that the respondents are largely illiterate with many (45%) not having completed their primary education. Low education limits farmers' adoption of improved farm practices.

Adoption of recommended practices by respondents
The recommended practices associated with fadama Project in the study area and adopted by respondents are presented in Table 3. Recommended plant spacing (100% of respondents), washbores (97.5%) and recommended harvesting methods (72.5%) were widely adopted by respondents. Washbores help to keep the harvested vegetable clean and attractive for consumer purchase; proper plant spacing increases yields as it prevents over-crowding while correct harvesting methods ensure multiple harvest from a single stand crop. Fertilizers were moderately used by almost half (52.5%) of the respondents. However, water pumps and improved varieties were adopted by only 40% and 22.5% of respondents respectively. The reasons for this low adoption rates are given in Table 4.

Constraints to respondents' use of fadama-related technologies
Major limitations to respondents' adoption of recommended practices include inadequate capital, high cost of water pumps andnon-availability of chemical fertilizer. Lack of improved varieties was not considered a serious constraint yet its adoption was very low (table 3). These suggest respondent's preference for the local variety. When probed, the reason given by respondents for this preference was the local varieties taste better than the improved varieties when prepared in condiment . How technology adoption is influenced by personal characteristics Table 5 reveals that sex, education and household size were significant determinants of respondents' adoption of recommended fadama-related practices. Sex was negatively signed which mean that female fadama farmers were more positively disposed to use of the improved practices. This result calls to question the assumption that women are not positively disposed to use of improved practices. The low rate of male adoption of improved practices could be related to the fact that there were few male involved in the fadama scheme in the study areas revealed in table 2. 3.78 *Significant at 5% (t = 2,015); **10% (t = 1.476); critical F = 3.17 The positive and significant coefficient for education (0.465) implies that education enhances respondents' use of improved practices, in this case by 46.5%. This result corroborates that of Tshiunza et al (2001). Household size (0.137) was marginally significant at the 10% probability level and positively related to we of improved farming practices. Deji et al (1999) obtained a positive relationship between both variables. Having large households may motivate the farmer to increase production, through use of improved technologies, to cater for the family and to supplement income from non-farm sources.
The explanatory variable accounted for close to 39% variability in respondents adoption of improved fadama-related practices as indicated by the adjusted R 2 value (0.386), while the computed F value (3.78) shows that the influence of the explanatory variables on adoption was significant at the 10% level (critical F statistic was 3.17).

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Respondents' response to improved farm practices recommended under the fadama project scheme was generally low, and their adoption level was significantly affected by such personal characteristics as gender, educational attainment and household size. An important implication of this result is that farmers personal characteristics need to be taken into consideration when planning developmental programmes for them.
Major limitations to adoption of the recommended farm practices were capital-related (i.e. inadequate funds and high pump cost) and lack of agro-chemicals. In view of these, the following are recommended.
(1) extension effort should target involving more male farmers in production system. Female farmers on the other hand should be encouraged to expand their farm enterprises so as to increase their income levels.
(2) education level of farmers should be improved upon through adult literacy classes and/or extension education. The essence is to enhance their ability to understand, use and adapt improved practices.
farmers should be advised to organize themselves into cooperatives to pool their financial resource and solve the problem of inadequate capital (funds) required to purchase inputs. (4) joint purchase of water pumps should equally be encouraged so as to reduce overhead cost of production.