ANALYSIS OF THE SOURCES OF INFORMATION AND ADOPTION OF IRPTs AMONG MEMBERS AND NON-MEMBERS OF RICE COOPERATIVES IN GOMBE STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study was carried out to assess the sources of information and adoption of IRPTs among members and non-members of rice cooperatives in Gombe State, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 186 respondents comprising of 93 members and 93 non-members. Data were collected using structured questionnaires and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results showed that, the mean age of the respondents was 41 and 42years for the members and non-members respectively, with the mean farming experience of 9 and 10 years for both the members and non-members respectively. The results showed a significant difference (P<0.05) between the mean household size among members and non-members as the calculated Z-value (2.70) is higher than the tabulated Z-value (1.96). The result also showed a significant difference (P<0.05) between the mean farm size among members and non-members as the calculated Z-value (4.80) is higher than the tabulated Z-value (1.96). The result revealed that, rice farmers cooperatives (67.4%), radio (63.0%) and friends (58.7%) were the major sources of information on IRPT among members of rice cooperatives in the study area and were ranked 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd respectively. All the members (100%) adopted all the improved rice production technologies at various level of adoption, high adoption (0.67 – 1.0) and Medium adoption (0.34 – 0.66) in the study area. The study concluded that members of rice cooperatives in the study area were better than non-members in terms of overall sources of information and adoption of improved rice production technologies.The study therefore recommends that, farmers should form formidable cooperative societies so as to enjoy economies of scale in pooling their resources to purchase farm inputs.