SOCIO-ECONOMIC DETERMINANTS OF CASSAVA FARMERS' PARTICIPATION IN USAID/MARKETS II PROGRAMME IN AKWA IBOM STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study analyzed socio-economic determinants of cassava farmers' participation in USAID/MARKET II programme in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Multi-stage random sampling procedure was used to select 90 USAID farmers. Data were collected with a structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics (Tobit regression analysis). The result indicated that USAID farmers had high participation ( = 2.6) in the stages of proramme development. Result showed that mean ages of USAID farmers was 40.5 years, a good proportion (58.9%) acquired secondary education, mean years of farming experience of 8 years, mean farm sizes of 1.8 hectares, mean annual cassava income of N233, 855.6 mean credit of N116, 667.00 and mean cooperative experience of 3.4 years. Tobit regression results showed that coefficients for age (β = 0.0579), education (β = 0.75980), farming experience (β = 0.0743), farm size (β = -0.6078), farm income (β = 0.2784), amount of credit (β = 0.5929), membership of cooperative societies (0.5745) and farm output (β = 0.2643) were determinants of farmers’ participation in the stages of programme development. The study therefore recommends integration of farmers in the design of any agricultural intervention programme that support income diversification of farmers, group formation access to education, credit and land to increase farm output for effective participation in the stages programme development.