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May 11, 2025Keywords:
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Determinants of Adoption of Improved Yam Varieties Technology Among Smallholder Farmers in Southeast Nigeria
Abstract
The study analyzed the determinants of the adoption of improved yam varieties technology among smallholder farmers in Southeast Nigeria. A multistage sampling procedure was used to select 270 households involved in the cultivation of improved yam varieties. To these respondents, a structured questionnaire was administered, out of which 264 were used for data collection. Descriptive and Inferential statistics of the Probit regression model were employed for data analysis. The study showed that the respondents had a mean age and mean farming experience of 38 years and 17 years, respectively; a mean farm size of 2.6ha; a mean household size of 8 persons with a mean household number involved in farm work of 2 persons. A majority (92.04%) of the respondents were members of farmers’ cooperatives, and a simple majority (57.95%) of the respondents had access to credit. The Probit results showed that out of the six socio-economic factors that positively and significantly influenced farmers’ adoption of the technology, access to credit, access to extension services, and membership to farmers’ cooperatives with elasticity (marginal effect) values of 0.316, 0.314 and 0.255 respectively had 1st, 2nd and 3rd highest positive significant effects on the adoption of the improved yam varieties technology. Household size and age had a negative significant impact with elasticity values of -0.356 and -0.303, respectively (P>0.05). Constraints to the adoption of improved yam varieties technology were a lack of finance, scarcity and high cost of improved yam seeds, poor extension services, high cost of labour, and climate change effects, among others. Policy measures aimed at the expansion of agric credit portfolios to enhance farmers’ access to the inputs required for adoption, provision of effective and result-oriented extension services on improved yam varieties as well as policies aimed at the recognition and strengthening by relevant stakeholders and farmers, of the efficacy of farmers’ co-operatives as potent tools in efforts to revolutionize the adoption of improved agricultural technologies were recommended to achieve increased yields and profitable yam business in Nigeria.
