SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS INFLUENCING ADOPTION OF RECOMMENDED COTTON PRODUCTION PRACTICES BY FARMERS IN ZAMFARA STATE, NIGERIA
SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS INFLUENCING ADOPTION OF RECOMMENDED COTTON PRODUCTION PRACTICES BY FARMERS IN ZAMFARA STATE, NIGERIA
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Date
2012-12
Authors
SADDIQ, Nuhu Muhammad
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Abstract
The bottle neck facing the production of cotton in Zamfara State is the use of traditional
method of growing cotton by farmers which leads to poor yield and income from cotton
production. Despite the introduction of RCPPs to farmers in Tsafe, Gusau and Bungudu
local government areas (LGAs) of Zamfara State, farmers are far from achieving
potential yield of 3.0- 3.5 t/ha against 1.3t/ha under farmers’ practices. This study was
carried out to determine the socio-economic factors influencing the adoption of
recommended cotton production practices by farmers in Zamfara State, Nigeria. The
specific objectives were to: describe socio-economic characteristics and institutional
factors of cotton farmers, determine the rate of adoption of RCPPs by farmers, the yield
performers of cotton and income of farmers under RCPPs, socio - economic factors
influencing adoption of RCPPs and identify the constraints to adoption of RCPPs. A
two stage sampling procedure was used, three LGAs were purposively selected based on
intensity of cotton production and coverage by RCPPs. Two communities were selected
from each of the three selected LGAs. A sample size of 144 cotton farmers was selected
for data analysis. Frequency, percentage, mean and multiple regression were used to
analyse the data. The results show that the respondents had a mean age of 40 years.
About 40 percent of the respondents had 38 – 48 numbers of people in their household.
Also, (45%) of the respondents had koranic education, while the respondents had a
mean of 11 years in cotton farming. Majority (65%) of the respondents had contact with
extension agents but not too frequently. The results also show that the mean credit need
of the respondents was N69, 208 but were only able to receive N18, 451 averagely. The
results show that in 2001-2002, the use of good seed - bed preparation had the highest
(30%) rate of adoption. Similarly, recommended spacing, use of SAMCOT-9, thinning,
and seed treatment had 28%, 25 %, 23% and 21% rate of adoption, respectively. The
rate of adoption of RCPPs increases from 2001/2002 to 2009/2010 except in 2005/2006
where the rate of adoption dropped as result of fall in price of cotton in. The findings,
reveal that majority (66%) of the respondents reported a mean yield of 2300kg/ha.
About 43% of the respondents got N120, 000/ha from sale of cotton. The results of
multiple regression reveal that labour was negatively significant, while educational
level, farming experience, extension contact, membership of social organization and
affordability were positively significant at 5 percent level of probability with an R2
value of 0.58. It was discovered from this study that low level of education, inadequate
and high cost of labour, insufficient fund, storage and marketing problem, were the
major constraints faced by the cotton farmers. It is recommended that adult education
and pre-season training should be organized for cotton farmers; farmers should form
various co-operative groups for land, input, credit, labour and marketing of cotton in
order to enhance the adoption of RCPPs and improved cotton productivity in the study
area.
Description
A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF POSTGRADUATE
STUDIES, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA, IN PARTIAL
FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD
OF DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN AGRICULTURAL
EXTENSION AND RURAL SOCIOLOGY.
Keywords
SOCIO, ECONOMIC, FACTORS, INFLUENCING, ADOPTIO, RECOMMENDED, COTTON, PRODUCTION, PRACTICES, FARMERS, ZAMFARA STATE,, NIGERIA