ADOPTION OF PURDUE IMPROVED COWPEA STORAGE IN NORTH-EAST NIGERIA

Abstract

The study explored the general adoption of Purdue improved cowpea storage (PICS) technology in the fragile north-eastern Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling approach was used to select 3,000 respondents from the study area. The primary data for this study were collected in 2020 through a field survey conducted by the researchers through the use of structured questionnaire. Both descriptive and inferential statistics (Propensity score matching [PSM] and Inverse probability weighted regression adjusted [IPWRA]) were used. ATBU-PICS project had increased the adoption by 8-25 PICS bags with a standard error of 11.30-14.11 using different matching algorithm. The adoption was found to be influenced positively by age, years of formal education, participation into ATBU-PICS, knowledge of PICS technology and farm size at P≤0.01, P≤0.01, P≤0.01, P≤0.01 and P≤0.05, respectively. Sex and farming experience negatively affected the adoption of PICS at P≤0.01 and P≤0.01, respectively. The study therefore, concluded that the age, years of formal education, participation into ATBU-PICS, knowledge of PICS technology and farm size were the factors that influenced adoption of PICS in the study area. It was recommended that more awareness creation is needed to generate more PICS technology knowledge so as to achieve further penetration and further project should be initiated to complement the previous efforts in the study area.