Factors Affecting the Adoption of Improved Varieties of Maize, Among Farm Families of Ardo-Kola Local Government Area of Taraba State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study analyze’ the factors affecting the adoption of improve varieties of maize (Sammaz17, 18, 19, 22, 35 and 37), among farm families of Ardo-kola local government area of Taraba State, Nigeria. The study objective were to describe the socio economic characteristics of the respondents; identify the sources of maize variety, identify factors responsible for changing varieties of maize within a short time, identify the maize varieties used by the respondents and identify the constraints faced by the respondents. Multi-stage random sampling techniques were used to select 80 respondents for the study. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data. The study revealed that, the levels of adoption of improved maize Farming technologies in the area were generally low while majority of the farmers had no formal education. The study also revealed that most (72.5%) of the maize farmers had no  contact  with  agricultural  extension agents,  which  can  negatively  affect  adoption  of  improved  maize  farming  technologies in the study area. Majority of the respondents used Sammaz 37 in 2019 planting season. The cost of the technology, complex nature of the technology, lack of skills to adopt the technology, risk and uncertainty of the technology and lack of productive resources were identified as challenges inhibiting the adoption of improved maize farming technologies in the area. The study recommends that Government and other development bodies should intensify training on the technologies to enable farmers understand their full benefits before they can fully adopt them. The government should subsidize the cost of technological inputs to enable low-income maize farmers afford.