Adoption of Yam Minisett Technique by Small Scale Farmers in Taraba State, Nigeria

¹FARAUTA KALETAPWA, ²YARO ANTHONY AND ³PEV ISAAC

^1&3Department of Vocational Education, Modibbo Adama University of Technology Yola, Nigeria.

²Department of Agricultural Education, College of Education, Zing,Taraba State, Nigeria.

E-mail-zikpev@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

A farm management survey on the adoption of yam minisett technique by small scale farmers in Taraba state, Nigeria was conducted in 2013. The minisett technology which was developed in 1982 by National Root Crop Research Institute Umudike to address the problem of access to quality seed yam and improved productivity of yam farmers appears not to have been adopted by farmers in Taraba state despite the inadequate supply and exorbitant cost of quality yam seeds in Nigeria. This study examined the level of awareness and factors that influence adoption of yam minisett technology package in Taraba State. Data for the study were obtained from a field survey of 150 yam farmers using multistage simple random sampling technique. Descriptive statistics and probit regression model was used to analyze the data. Results showed that only about 37% of the respondents were aware of the yam minisett technique while only about 30% adopted the technique. About 7% of the respondents who were aware of the technique refused to adopt it due to the following reasons: poor and non-uniform` germination of setts and size of seed yam produced which was said to be small; high labour requirement and poor assess to production inputs and technical information on minisetts technology. The results of probit regression shows that educational status of respondent (X₂), access to credit (X₅), number of extension contact (X₆) and membership of cooperative society (X₇) are positive and statistically significant(P < 0.05). This implies that these variables significantly influence farmer’s likelihood to adopt yam minisetts technology. Farming experience (X₃) and household size (X₄) are negative but significant (P < 0.05). This implies that more experienced small scale famers tend not to adopt yam minisetts technique. To realize the full potentials of yam minisett technology package in this state, the researcher’s need to address the issues identified in this study with regards to size of seed yam produced and non-uniform germination of minisetts. Farmers’ practices should be integrated into the technology package while Taraba State Agricultural Development Programme should disseminate relevant and appropriate agricultural extension information geared towards creating awareness and adoption of Yam minisett technique and provide access to necessary yam production inputs for easy adoption of this innovation with the aim of boosting food security in Taraba State and Nigeria at large.

Keywords: Small Scale farmers, Yam minisett, Adoption