Perceived effect of technology attributes on farmers’ engagement in Sasakawa Global 2000 African Agronomy Initiative cassava-maize intercrop in Abia State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study assessed engagement of farmers in Sasakawa Global 2000 African Agronomy Initiative cassava-maize intercrop in Abia State, Nigeria. Multistage random sampling procedure was used to select 60 cassava farmers for the study. Data were collected with a structured questionnaire and analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics (Probit regression analysis). Result showed that farmers had favourable perception (?̅= 2.8) on Sasakawa cassava-maize intercrop technology attributes and high engagement (?̅= 2.3) in the technologies. Farmers were constrained by high cost of technology (?̅= 2.2) and negative perception of farmers about past related programmes (?̅= 2.2). Probit regression result showed that coefficients for early maturity (-0.5076**), high yielding (0.0977***), disease and pest tolerance (-0.0611**), relative advantage (0.0628**) influenced farmers’ engagement in Sasakawa cassava-maize intercrop initiative in the study area. The study concluded that cassava-maize intercrop attributes encouraged farmers to engage in the technology. Policies aimed at promoting and intensifying breeding programmes on high yielding, early maturing, pest and disease tolerant varieties of cassava and maize were advocated for ease of engagement of farmers in the project.