ADOPTION OF IMPROVED MAIZE (Zea mays L.) PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES AMONG FARMERS IN WESTERN ZONE OF BAUCHI STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study examined adoption of improved maize production technologies among farmers in Western zone of Bauchi State, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling procedure was employed in selecting 120 farmers for the study. Data were collected using structured questionnaire and analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The result shows that majority (80.84%) of the farmers fell within the ages of 20-39 years with the mean age of 38 years. Most (94.20%) of the respondents were males and 56.67% were married with a mean household size of 8 persons. Furthermore, the result revealed that majority (89.17%) of the respondents had one form of education or another with secondary education (42.50%) had the highest percentage, the mean years of farming experience was 10 years. The results from linear regression analysis showed that age, household size, farm size, marital status and educational level were significant at P<0.1 and P<0.05, respectively. The major constraints militating against the adoption of improved technologies used in maize production were high cost of inputs (79.17%), poor market price (72.50%) and inadequate inputs (70.83%) among others. The study concluded that age, farm size and household size were the major determinants of adoption of improved maize production technologies in the study area. It was recommended that a good and stable market price, subsidize and adequate inputs and extension personnel should be provided in the study area.