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Date
2011-12-26
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Ahmadu Bello University Zaria
Abstract
The study was carried out to study the socio-economic and institutional factors
influencing the adoption of improved maize technology among farmers in Giwa Local
Government Area of Kaduna State. Data were collected using structured questionnaire
from the respondents who major on maize production. A total strength of 631 farmers
constituted the sample frame. Out of which 20% of respondents were purposively
selected from each wards of the Local Government Area for the study bringing the total
number of sample size to 126. Both descriptive statistics (involving the use of percentage
and frequency) and Multiple Regression Model were used for the analysis. The result
showed that four variables were found to be significant in relation to the adoption of
improved maize technologies. These variables include education, farm size, household
size and gender of the respondents. Going by the aforementioned indicator, farm
activities in the study area is subsistence as majority of the respondents 50% was able to
produce between 30-80 bags. The study revealed low output by majority of respondents
resulting from incomprehensive diffusion and adoption process. This study was able to
identify lack of homogeneity as a prime factor that hinders bumper maize harvest such as:
identification of needs, priorities and preferences of the farmers in the study area. To
ensure food security in the study area, this work recommended that there should be some
level of capacity building. This has to do with intensive training and retraining on better
ways of managing the soil through effective disease/striga control measures before
adopting the improved technologies by these farmers who are mainly subsistence
farmers