Assessment of Variability in the Adoption of Cocoa Technologies among Farmers in Ekiti and Ondo States, Nigeria.

Abstract

A critical path to the deployment of scarce extension services resources for agricultural development is the identification and targeting of farmers who need such services. There is dearth of data on farmers socio-economic groups response to available technologies in the cocoa industry. This study therefore explored the variability in adoption of improved management practices among cocoa farmers in Ekiti and Ondo States, both in the southwest region of Nigeria. Data were collected from 391 farmers (170 from Ekiti and 221 from Ondo) and analysed using frequency tables, Anova and Cochran Q-test. Result on socio-economic characteristics of cocoa farmers in the study area revealed that the average age was 45 years, majority were male (74.94%) and married (84.14%). The average family size stood at 5 people, those with formal education constituted 84.14%, the average farming experience was 18 years the average farm size was 3.85ha while the average annual income was N853,900.26.The Cochran Q-test result (χ² = 1103; p≤0.01) revealed significant variability in cocoa technologies adopted by the farmers with the most significant being insecticides and fungicides (0.86) and regular weeding (0.84) while the least significant were solar drier (0.24) and fencing cocoa nursery with wire mesh (0.54). T-test and ANOVA results revealed significant (p < 0.01) variability in adoption behaviour across the following socio-economic characteristics: sex (t = 2.1), age (F = 4.00) and education (F = 5.73). The need to target extension services at farmers of different socio-economic characteristic level was emphasized.