Determinants of Adoption of Improved Technologies by Small Scale Rubber Farmers in EDO State, Nigeria

Alakpa ¹ , S.O.E. ² , Ogbonwan T.A.³

Section:Research Paper, Product Type: Isroset-Journal
Vol.2 , Issue.4 , pp.1-6, Apr-2016

Online published on Apr 27, 2016

Copyright © Alakpa, S.O.E. , Ogbonwan T.A. . This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
 

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Abstract :
The study assessed the response of rubber farmers to the adoption of improved technologies and determine variables affecting the adoption decisions of the respondents. Data were obtained from 137 rubber farmers sampled from the three Local Government Areas (Ovia North-East, Ovia South-West and Uhunmwode) producing rubber in Edo state. Factors that influence the adoption of rubber technology were evaluated using multiple regression analysis which where four functional forms (Linear, Semi-log, Exponential and Cobb-Douglas). 44.5% of the respondents had a monthly income of more than N20,000. Technologies mostly adopted were weeding (100%), fire trace (94%) and pruning (53%). The respondents’ educational qualification was mainly post primary (52.6%) and primary (25.5%) education respectively; With Majority of the respondents having a household size 9-12 (45.3%) . The result indicated that the extension contact was very poor. Only 18.2% of the respondents received extension contact and this led to very poor awereness that eventually brought low yield. 83.8% variation in the regress and adoption of rubber technology was explained by the regressors. Similarly, the F value was statistically significant at 5% probability level indicating model fitness. The study therefore recommends that: Rubber Research Institute of Nigeria (RRIN) should improve on the extension delivery by collaborate with relevant government agencies and non-governmental organizations to give regular training to rubber farmers and improved Extension delivery as required to improve farmers’ level of awareness and improvement of their production capacity.

Key-Words / Index Term :
Farm Technology, Adoption Decision, Rubber farmers, Extension Contact, Small holder farmers, Innovation

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