FACTORS INFLUENCING ADOPTION OF RECOMMENDED ONION PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES AMONG FARMERS IN WESTERN AGRICULTURAL ZONE OF BAUCHI STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study examined the factors influencing adoption of recommended onion production practices among farmers in western agricultural zone of Bauchi state, Nigeria. Multi-stage random sampling procedure was used to select 201 respondents for the study. Data were collected with the aid of questionnaire and analysed using descriptive statistics and tobit regression analysis. The result of the study revealed that 37.3% of the respondents were youth with a mean age of 42yrs, 69.7% were male and 75.6% were married, 61.7% had a household size of 1-10 persons, 64.2% had a farming experience of 1-10 years. Substantial proportion (36.8%) of the respondent had secondary education and 62.7% of the respondents were members of a cooperatives. The findings also revealed that 89.6% & 76;6% of the respondents had a farm size of 1-4 hectares and a yearly extension visit, respectively. The level of adoption of onion production technologies documented that, use of recommended land preparation, use of recommended improved variety, planting method by transplanting, planting (mid june), plant spacing of 15×15 cm, recommended fertilizer application (organic20-25ton/ha or 300kg/ha of 15-15-15), recommended methods of fertilizer application(placement), weeding (used of herbicides), diseases control (use of agro-chemicals) and pests’ control (pesticides) were the technologies adopted at various levels. Age, farm size and access to credit were the major socio-economic factors influencing the adoption of recommended onion production technologies in the study area at P ≤ 0.05, P ≤ 0.05 and P ≤ 0.01 levels of significance, respectively. The major constraints faced by the onion farmers were low technical know-how (4.06), inadequate processing facilities (4.04) and inadequate storage facilities (3.86). In conclusion, the age, farm size and access to credits are the major factors influencing the adoption of recommended onion production practices in the study area. It is recommended that more storage facilities should be provided in order to reduce the loss farmers incurred after production and farmers should be trained on modern onion production and storage to enable the operate in less risky environment.