Cassava Farmers’ Perception of Cassava Initiative: Implication for Cassava Transformation in Nigeria.

Cassava gained a leading role among cash crops in Nigeria following the establishment of the cassava initiative, making the crop become a white gold. The initiative aimed at making the crop a source of foreign exchange earner for the country. The study was carried out in Nigeria among members of the cassava growers association. The study covered those who had being members of the association for at least 10 years. Multi-stage sampling was used to select 290 respondents for the study. Males constituted 72.8% of the respondents, 76.9% were married with mean age of 48.4±12.8years, 65.5% had farming as their primary source of income and 53.8% had at least secondary school education. The initiative was favourably perceived among 55.2% of the respondents. For the success of the cassava transformation, respondents perceived that issues such as training on quality standards for export need to be adequately provided, agro-chemicals should be available at subsidised rate any time they are needed by the farmers. In addition, assistance of cassava inputs provided by the government should be adequate while strategies that ensure fair distribution of the resources be implemented. Adequate marketing channels for cassava were available with the initiative, Training on quality standards for export was adequately provided. Cassava initiative should reduce the cost of production in the cassava sub-sector. Key word: Initiative, Cassava, Perceptio

Crop Farmers’ Knowledge Level of Climate Change in Ilorin East Local Government Area of Nigeria

This study was carried out to examine crop farmers’ knowledge level of climate change in Ilorin East Local Government Area of Kwara State of Nigeria.               Multistage sampling technique was used in the selection of 70 respondents for the study. Interview schedule was adopted in the collection of information from the sampled respondents. Data collected were presented with frequency distribution and percentages while the inferential statistics used was logit analysis.                Age range of 74.2% of the respondents was between 41 years and 60 years and 87.1% of the farmers were married. Majority (55.7%) the respondents had no formal education while large percentage (97.1%) engaged in farming as their primary occupation. The farmers have diverse knowledge about effects of climate change therefore, farmers adopted different adaptation strategies like fertilizer application, cultivation of improved varieties and mulching to curb the various effects of climate on agricultural production. The knowledge level of 68.6% of the respondents was low while 31.4% of the farmers had high level of knowledge about climate change.               Logit regression result showed a positive relationship between farmers knowledge level of climate change and their age (t= 1.792), marital status (t= 1.956) and farming as primary occupation of the respondents (t=1.908). Study concludes that the farmers have low knowledge of climate change. Recommendations were made that training be provided for the farmers and that governmental organization especially the Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) and non-governmental organization should actively be involved in sensitizing farmers about issues on climate change. Also farmers’ organizations should help in providing first class information about climatic changes to farmers. Key words: Knowledge, Farmers, Climate Chang

Production and Marketing Performance of Farmers Participating in Cassava Initiative across Agricultural Zones in Nigeria

This study investigated the production and marketing performance of farmers participating in cassava initiative. Data were obtained from individuals who had at least 10 years membership of Cassava Growers Association (CGA) which constituted the target group in the implementation of the initiative. A total of 290 respondents were selected from the three cassava-growing zones (central, southwest and southeast) in Nigeria using multistage sampling procedure. Interview schedule was used to elicit information on cassava farmers’ enterprise characteristics, change in cassava production and marketing activities before and during initiative (performance). Descriptive statistics, production and marketing indices and ANOVA were used to analyse the data at p = 0.05. Mean farm size before the initiative was 1.2±1.1ha and  2.3±2.4ha after the initiative while mean yield was 14.1±7.1 and 20.3±8.4 tonnes/ha, respectively. Production performance was high for 14.5% ( ³12.58), moderate for 68.6% (1.8< <12.58) and low for 16.9% ( £1.8). Also, 17.2% ( ³14.98), 28.3% (0.56< <14.98) and 54.5% ( £0.56) had high, moderate and low marketing performance, respectively. There were significant differences in marketing performance (F=26.47) but no difference in production performance (F=0.795) across the cassava growing zones. The cassava initiative improved the production and marketing performance of the cassava farmers. Keywords: Cassava, production, marketing, performance

Farmers Accessibility to the Cassava Initiative Elements in the Central Agricultural Zone of Nigeria

The Government cassava initiative was introduced in July 2002 to address the poor linkage between production, marketing and utilization of cassava. This study examined the extent of farmers’ accessibility to the elements of this initiative. Data were obtained from individuals who had at least 10 years membership of Cassava Growers Association (CGA) which constituted the target group in the implementation of the initiative in the central agricultural zone of Nigeria. Respondents totalling 190 were selected using multistage sampling procedure. Interview schedule was used to elicit information from respondents. Descriptive statistics and regression were used to analyse the data at p = 0.05. Access to improved stem cuttings and extension training for cassava production ranked highest while credit from international agencies and land for large scale farming ranked lowest among the initiative elements. Majority of the respondents (74.7 %) had high access to the initiative elements. Age significantly affected access to the initiative elements (b= -0.2410). Also, significant relationship exists between change in production activities and access to local government land for cluster farming (r=0.333), access to farm gate processing centre (r=0.269), access to processing equipment (r=0.255) and access to credit (r=0.0.125). Significant relationship also existed between change in marketing activities and access to market (r=0.422), access to local government land for cluster farming (r=0.547), access to farm gate processing centre (r=0.422) and access to credit (r=0.340). Access to initiative elements improved production more than marketing of the participating farmers. Hence, there is need to intensify efforts on the marketing component of the initiative to achieve growth in the agricultural sector through cassava enterprise.Keywords: Access, production, marketing, cassava, initiative element

Impacts of microcredit access on climate change adaptation strategies adoption and rice yield in Kwara State, Nigeria

Access to microcredit has received a lot of attention, but, its role in the adoption of climate change adaptation strategies and improvement of rice yield is not often debated. This study investigated the impacts of access to microcredit on the adoption of climate change adaptation strategies and the yield of rice farmers. A multistage sampling procedure was employed to select 320 rice farmers for the study. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the Multivariate Probit regression model, the Poisson regression model with endogenous treatment, and the Endogenous Switching Regression Model. The descriptive results for the entire sample show mean values of 45 years for age, 9 people for household size, 20 years for farming experience, and 19 hectares for farm size. The result also showed that many of the rice farmers are male (94%), married (92%), educated (97%), and belong to rice farmer's associations (85%). Most of the rice farmers have access to microcredit (80%) and the farmers depend largely on their funds from other enterprises (100%). Many of the farmers mostly adopted high-quality-improved seeds (92%). Further findings reveal that age, educational status, household size, farm size, and years of farming experience are factors that largely determine the choice of climate change adaptation strategies adopted. The study also revealed that access to microcredit significantly affected the intensity of adoption of climate change adaptation strategies; and farmers’ age, education, and farm size significantly affected rice yield. Hence, policies that can promote increased access to microcredit should be promoted

Adoption Intensity Determinants for Improved Sweet Potato Varieties among Farmers in Nigeria

Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) is one of the stable tuber crops consumed by many households in Nigeria. It can be found in different varieties and exist in many colours of skin and flesh. The production of this important crop is still very low, thereby compromising food security. Sweet potato is one of the target commodity crops under the Nigerian Agriculture Sector Investment Opportunities. However, improved sweet potato production has not been widely adopted among farmers Oyo state hence, the need to investigate factors affecting the adoption of improved sweet potato varieties among farmers in Oyo state. Data were collected from 350 farmers randomly selected from two agricultural zones in the state. The data collected were presented using descriptive statistics and analysed using Tobit regression model. Results showed that farm size, age, years of formal education, early maturing, high yield potential, market availability, resistant to pests and diseases and availability of vines significantly influenced the adoption of improved sweet potato varieties. Availability of vines of improved varieties, high yield potential, early maturity, resistant to pests and diseases and market availability were the technology-specific attributes that influenced both the adoption of improved sweet potato varieties and its use intensity. The study, therefore suggests that attribute preferences of farmers need to be integrated into the development of improved sweet potato varieties by the researchers to enhance its adoption and use intensity