ASSESSMENT OF EXTENSION PROGRAMMES AND TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION IN SULEJA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF NIGER STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study assessed the cassava farmer’s participation in extension programs and technology adoption in Suleja Local Government Area of Niger state, Nigeria. Multistage sampling procedures and purposive selection were used to select the sample size of 80 respondents. The data for the study was collected using a structured questionnaire while the analysis was done using frequencies, percentages and means. The finding from the study shows that 93.8% of the respondents were male, with mean age of 45years and 45% of the respondents were married with a mean household size of 7 persons. About 98.1% of the respondents had formal education.  The mean farm size was 4 hectares and the mean income was ₦448,725:00K. The result also revealed that 93.8% of the respondents were aware of the cassava technology adoption for 3 years. The result further revealed that majority (47.6%) of the cassava farmers in the study area were informed of the new technology by their friends. Furthermore, majority (46.0%) of the respondents adopts the new innovation of using knapsack sprayers. About 68.8% of the respondents had extension agent visits and 56.2% participated in extension programmes. The farmers’ perceived effects towards cassava technology showed that the adoption of improved cassava production practices is only used by the rich farmers (π = 2.99) ranked first followed by inputs for cassava production are not readily available (π = 2.97). The constraints to adoption of cassava technology in the study area include Lack of capital, Lack of information and climatic condition. Farmers should be encouraged to form cooperative societies to make fund and information available and extension service stations should be established for effective extension delivery programme were offered as recommendations.