AN ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPACT OF FARMING SYSTEMS RESEARCH/EXTENSION ON THE
ADOPTION OF AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGIES IN THE MIDDLE-BELT REGION OF NIGERIA

                        ALONGE, ADEWALE JOHNSON; PHD

                        IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY, 1993

                        EDUCATION, AGRICULTURAL (0517); SOCIOLOGY, GENERAL (0626); EDUCATION, ADULT AND CONTINUING (0516)
 

                         The purpose of the study was to assess the impact of Farming Systems Research/Extension (FSR/E),
                         differential access to agricultural support services and human capital endowment on farm-households'
                         adoption of agricultural innovations in the Middle-Belt region of Nigeria. The research was conducted
                         within a World Bank-funded Agricultural Development Project located in Niger State, where the
                         International Institute of Tropical agriculture (IITA) has been implementing FSR activities to develop and
                         test appropriate technologies for the inland valleys' farming systems. Data collection involved a
                         triangulation approach consisting of non-participant observation, qualitative group interviews, and
                         individual interviews with 513 farm-households' heads. Data were analyzed using frequencies, means,
                         t-test, chi-square and multiple regression. The study found that a majority of the respondents were
                         resource-poor subsistence producers. Farmers' adoption of the recommended technological package
                         for rice, corn, sorghum and cowpea, was piece-meal and selective. While, over 80% of the respondents
                         had adopted fertilizer, the adoption rates for improved varieties, seed dressing, herbicides, and
                         insecticides were less impressive. Using Biggs's classification (1989), farmers' participation in the project
                         was limited to either the contract or consultative mode. Chi-square and t-test analyses showed that FSR
                         participants achieved a higher rate of innovation adoption than non-participants. Multiple regression
                         analysis showed that variables characteristic of the institutional constraint model, and farmers'
                         perceptions of the relative advantage of the recommended innovations were the best predictors of
                         farmers' adoption. However, classical diffusion variables such as farm size, education, income, and age,
                         emerged as poor predictors. It was concluded that in order for FSR/E to remain a viable approach to
                         sustainable agricultural development in the third world countries, greater emphasis must be placed on
                         enhancing farmers' participation, and on the development of appropriate institutional linkages among
                         research, the farming community, extension services, and other agricultural development agencies.

Social Systems Simulation Group P.O. Box 6904 San Diego, CA  92166-0904 Roland Werner, Principal Phone/FAX  (619) 660-1603