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Farmers Adoption Of Improved Technology In Cassava Production And Processing In Peri-urban Areas Of Edo State
[A CASE STUDY OF IKPOBA OKHA AND OVIA NORTH EAST LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS]
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Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is a perennial woody shrub which
grows to a height of about 1-3m and is cultivated mainly for its roots
(and to a lesser extent its leaves. Cassava roots are utilized for human
consumption, as a constituent of animal feed, in the production of
industrial starch and as a source of bio-fuel. Cassava excels under
suboptimal conditions such as low soil fertility and drought, offering
the possibility of using marginal land to increase total agricultural
production (Cock, 1982). Cassava has a high rate of converting available
sunlight to carbohydrates and according to Burrell (2003) contributing
to the importance of cassava in most tropical countries. It grows and is
cultivated in the tropical and subtropical areas of the world as a food
and cash crop. Africa produced about 54% of the cassava in the world
with Nigerian cassava production being the largest in the world with
approximately 34 million tonnes in 2001; a third more than production in
Brazil and almost double the production of Indonesia and Thailand (FAO,
2004).
1.2Statement of the Problem
Nigeria is the largest
producer of cassava in the world with 34 million tonnes of cassava
produced in 2001 and an average yield of 10.6 tonnes per hectare in 1999
(FAO, 2004). In spite of this, Nigeria’s potential for cassava
production has not been reached. Former president Gen Olusegun
Obasanjo’s cassava production initiative envisaged that US$5 billion a
year would be attained from cassava production in 2007, it was
determined that 150 million tonnes of cassava would be needed by the end
of 2006 to achieve the Presidential Cassava Initiative (PCI
Subcommittee, 2002) and as at 2006 about 45 million tonnes of cassava
was produced (United States Agency for International Development-USAID,
2008). This clearly shows that there is a large gap between current
production levels and this target.
Cassava production in peri urban
areas can contribute to the achievement of this target through an
increase in current levels of production in these areas. However for an
increase in production to occur there has to be an increase in adoption
of improved production technologies (Doss, 2006). Knowledge of the
current level of adoption of improved cassava production technologies in
peri urban areas will aid in the formulation of appropriate policies to
increase productivity and aid in achieving the cassava production
potentials of Nigeria.
This is where this study comes in; it is aimed
at discovering farmer’s adoption of improved cassava production
technology and the constraints to technology adoption peri-urban areas.
It also would answer the following questions:
what are the socio-economic characteristics of cassava farmers in peri-urban areas?
are the cassava farmers in peri-urban areas aware of improved technologies?
what are the sources of information about new technologies available to cassava farmers in peri-urban areas?
what is the level of adoption of improved technologies by cassava farmers in peri-urban areas?
what are the factors affecting the adoption of new technologies by cassava farmers in peri-urban areas?
what are the problems encountered by cassava farmers in adopting new technologies in peri urban areas?
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]This study was aimed at determining farmer’s adoption of improved technology in cassava production and processing in peri-urban areas of Edo state using Ikpoba Okha and Ovia North East local government areas as case studies. Purposive sampling was used to select 6 wards from which simple random sampling was used to select each of 148 cassava farmers from the 6 wards. The data was analysed using frequency counts, percentages and Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to test the ... Continue reading---
