Effect of Information Sources on Adoption of Sawah Eco-technology among Farmers in Nigeria

Abstract

Problem facing the developing world today is not only lack of appropriate technologies and scientific discoveries needed for economic development but their conversion into production accomplishments which depend on the speed with which the technologies are transferred from its source to the ultimate unit of its utilization. This study examined the effect of information sources on adoption of Sawah eco-technology in Nigeria. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 166 sawah farmers from Delta, Ebonyi, Kebbi, Kwara, Niger and Ondo states. Interview guide was used to elicit information on the farmers’ personal and production characteristics, sources of information and the sawah eco-technologies. Frequency counts, percentages, means, and chi-square were used to analyse the data. Results reveal that the respondents were predominantly male (98.8%), married (97.6%) and had no formal education (64.4%) with mean age, years of rice production and sawah rice production of 43.3years, 34.0years and 6.9years, respectively. The mean farm size and yield of sawah rice were 0.46ha and 3.25tonnes/ha, respectively. Commonly adopted sawah eco-technologies by the farmers were nursery bed preparations (100.0%), bund construction (92.9%), canal construction (84.9%), flooding (78.3%), puddling (73.4%) and use of power tiller (65.2%). The main sources of information on sawah by the respondents were contact farmers (92.4%), farmers’ association (87.3%), extension agents (87.3%), researchers (79.3%) and friends/relations (77.9%). Chi-square analysis revealed significant (p<0.05) association between respondents’ use of contact farmers (χ2 = 31.28), extension agents (χ2 = 22.19), farmers association (χ2 = 23.06), researchers (χ2 = 19.62) and friends / relations (χ2 = 31.09) and adoption of sawah technology. This study concluded that information sources are important in dissemination of sawah technologies in Nigeria. Therefore, improving the use of information sources that significantly affect adoption of sawah technology should be encouraged among farmers.