ECONOMIC IMPACT OF PURDUE IMPROVED COWPEA STORAGE TECHNOLOGY IN NORTH-EAST NIGERIA

Abstract

ATBU-PICS project had made a substantial effort in north-east Nigeria to further promote hermetic cowpea storage. To respond to the need for information on the robust economic impact of adoption of cowpea storage technology, the objectives of the study were to specifically explore the impact of the Purdue improved cowpea storage (PICS) technology on knowledge and margin of farmers in north-eastern Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling approach was used to select 3,000 respondents from the study area. Primary data were collected in 2020 using structured questionnaire. Both descriptive and inferential statistics (Propensity score matching [PSM] and Inverse probability weighted regression adjusted [IPWARA]) were used for the analyses. The result showed that age, sex, farming experience and availability of PICS bag in a locality positively drive both margin of farmers and knowledge of PICS technology at P≤0.1, P≤0.1, P≤0.05, P≤0.01, respectively, but household size negatively drive them at P≤0.01. The study also found the margin of adopters to be ₦124,006.10 higher than that of non-adopters; and the knowledge of PICS technology adopters was higher than that of non- adopters by 2.32 in a scale of 5. It was concluded that ATBU-PICS project had positive economic impact on the adopters of the technology. It was recommended that; the value chain of the PICS bags should be intensified to ensure its availability in all the localities for easy access while increase awareness of the technology should also be intensified.