SOCIO-ECONOMIC DETERMINANTS OF IMPROVED RICE TECHNOLOGIES’ ADOPTION AMONG SMALL SCALE FARMERS IN KOGI STATE, NIGERIA
SOCIO-ECONOMIC DETERMINANTS OF IMPROVED RICE TECHNOLOGIES’ ADOPTION AMONG SMALL SCALE FARMERS IN KOGI STATE, NIGERIA

Summary/Abstract: This study examined the socio-economic determinants of the adoption of improved rice technologies by small scale farmers in Kogi State, Nigeria. It specifically investigated, influence of socio-economic characteristics on the adoption of improved rice technologies, adoption level of farmers and constraints against adoption of rice technologies. Multistage random sampling was used to pick 120 registered rice farmers with the Kogi State Agricultural Development Project (ADP). Frequencies, percentages, mean, mode, mean scores and ordered probit regression were used to analyze the data. From the result, all the farmers adopted the use of agrochemicals (100%) and the farmers were categorized into low, medium and high adopters, with 60% of the farmers being high adopters. The result also showed that lack of infrastructural facilities was a major constraint experienced by farmers in the study area having a mean score of 3.7. However, the ordered probit revealed that membership of cooperative (1.029277 at 1% significance), source of fund (0.0100499 at 1% significance)) and source of labour (0.2746477, at 10% significance) determined the adoption of rice technologies while marginal effect on farm size, household size, contact with extension agents favoured the adoption of all the eight most important rice technologies which could be used as a measure towards pleasant disposition to commercial rice farming. The study recommends that private rice industries should utilize this positive disposition for rice farmers towards rice technology adoption by establishing rice processing industries in the study area and making the farmers’ rice out growers to feed the industries.

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