The main focused of this study was to evaluate the adoption of improved rice production technologies among farmers in Kudan Local Government Area of Kaduna state. The specific objectives of the study are to: describe the socio-economic characteristics of rice farmers, identify the sources of information used by rice farmers, describe the level of adoption of improved rice production technologies, determine the factors that influence the adoption of improved rice production technologies, identify the problems of adoption of improved rice production technologies in the study area. Multi-stage sampling technique was employed in the study. Ten 10% of rice farmers were randomly selected from each of the selected villages using simple random sampling method, data were collected with aids of structured questionnaire. The average age of the respondents was 33 years while the minimum and maximum ages were 17 and 60years, with standard error of 0.88 respectively. Result shows that about 94.7% of the respondents were male while the remaining percentages (25.0%) were female. Majority of the farmers (40%) had an average production experience ranged between1-10 years with the average mean of 16.9 years respectively. The result indicates that about 32% of the farmers had the information on improved rice adoption technologies from the radio. Result further shows that majority of the farmers (29%) adopted improved seeds. The coefficient of multiple determinations is 0.56 indicating that the explanatory varies in the model explained about 56.0% of the variation in adoption of improved rice production in the study area. Lack of technical knowhow was the most severe constraint of rice producers with about 30% of rice farmers attesting to this fact.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title page - - - - - - - - - i
Declaration - - - - - - - - - ii
Certification - - - - - - - - iii
Dedication - - - - - -- - - - iv
Acknowledgement - - - - - - - - v
Abstract -- - - - - - - - - vi
Table of content - - - - - - - - vii
List of tables - - - - - - - - - x
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 Introduction - - - - - - - - 1
1.1 Background information - - - - - - 1
1.2 Statement of the problem - - - - - - 1
1.3 Objectives of the study - - - - - - 2
1.4 Justification - - - - - - - - 3
CHAPTER TWO
2.0 Literature Review - - - - - - - 4
2.1 Problems of Agriculture in Nigeria - - - - - 4
2.1.1 Utilization of Rice - - - - - - - 6
2.1.2 Management Practice - - - - - - - 6
2.2. Previous Studies on Socio-Economic Characteristic of
Farmers - - - - - - - - - 10
2.2.1. Level of Education - - - - - - - 11
2.2.2. Household Size - - - - - - - 11
2.2.3. Social Participation - - - - - - - 12
2.2.4 Level of Contact with Extension Agent - - - - 12
2.2.5. Age - - - - - - - - - 13
2.2.6 Gender - - - - - - - - 13
2.3 Sources of Information - - - - - - 14
2.3.1 Mass Media Exposure - - - - - - - 14
2.4 Adoption Level of Farmers - - - - - - 15
2.5. Constraints to Adoption of New Technologies - - - - 18
CHAPTER THREE
3.0 Methodology - - - - - - - - 21
3.1 Study Area - - - - - - - - 21
3.2 Sampling Technique and Sample Size - - - - 22
3.3 Analytical techniques - - - - - - - 22
3.4 Measurement of Dependent and Independent Variables - - 24
CHAPTER FOUR
4.0 Results and discussion - - - - - - - 26
4.1 Socio-economic Characteristics of Respondent in the Study Area- 26
4.1.1 Age distribution of respondents - - - - - - 26
4.1.2: Distribution of the Respondents Based on the Sex of the
Respondents - - - - - - - - 27
4.1.3: Distribution of rice farmers according to their marital status - - 29
4.1.4 Educational Level of the Respondents - - - - 30
4.1.5. Household Size of the Rice Farmers in the Study Area - - 31
4.1.6. Distribution of Farmers According to the Years of Farming
Experience - - - - - - - - - 32
4.1.7: Membership of Cooperative Association - - - - 33
4.2: Sources of Information Received on the Adoption of Improved
Rice Production Technologies - - - - - 34
4.3: Level of Adoption of Technologies by the Rice Farmers in the
Study Area - - - - - - - - 35
4.4: Factors that influence the adoption of improved rice production
technologies in the study area - - - - - 36
4.5. Constraints of adopting the improved production technologies - - 37
CHAPTER FIVE
5.0 Summary, conclusion and recommendation - - - - 40
5.1 Summary - - - - - - - - 40
5.2 Conclusion - - - - - - - - 41
5.3 Recommendation - - - - - - - 41
References - - - - - - - - 43
Appendix - - - -- - - - - 48
LIST OF TABLES
Table 4.1: Age Distribution of the Respondents - - - - 27
Table 4.2: Sex Distribution of the rice Farmers - - - - 28
Table 4.3: Marital Status of the Rice Farmers. - - - - 29
Table 4.4: Educational Status of the Farmers - - - - - 30
Table 4.5: Household size of the Rice Farmers - - - - 31
Table 4.6: Distribution of Rice Farmers Based on the Years of farming
Experience - - - - - - - - 32
Table 4.7: Membership of Cooperative Association - - - - 33
Table: 4.8 Sources of Information Received on the Improved Rice
Adoption Technologies - - - - - - 34
Table 4.9: Estimated Adoption Level of Rice Farmers in the Study
Area - - - - - - - - - 35
Table 4.10: Factors Influencing the Adoption of Improved Rice Production
Technology - - - - - - - 37
Table 4.11: Constraints of Adopting the Improved Production
Technologies - - - - - - - 39