Evaluation of factors driving the adoption of yam minisett technology by farmers in Abia State, Nigeria.

Abstract

Yam () is an important tuber crop in Nigeria, where it is produced mainly as a source of food crop especially carbohydrate. The current annual production is estimated at 26.587 million metric tons (FAO, 2005). In 1997 alone, Nigeria accounted for 75% of the world production (Manyong 2001. Although yam production in Nigeria is quite high there is still need for increased production to satisfy domestic and possibly export demand (Asumugha 2004). However, production of yam is highly expensive when compared with other root and tuber crops. This is due to costly input requirements, especially labor and planting materials (Ezeh, 1998). For both seed yam and ware yam production, planting materials may exceed 50% of production cost (Orkwor 1998.) A large quantity of edible yam up to 30% of the previous year's harvest may be used to plant a new crop (Okoli and Akoroda, 1995). This makes seed yams account for the high cost of total production cost.The minisett technique involves the use of 25g of setts to produce whole tubers which serve as "seed" yam (Okoli and Akoroda, 1995). This technology was developed to address the problem of high cost of seed yam. Yam minisett technology is a package comprising of the following field operations (i)Land preparation (ii)use of minisett dust( iii) time of planting-when rains become stable( iv)sett size of 25g (v)seed bed preparation( vi)spacing of 25cm x1.0m( vii)use of fertilizer (Iwueke,1991). The rate of adoption of the minsett technique was l o w ( , I w u e k e , 1 9 9 1 ) T h e a d o p t i o n r a t e w a s r e p o r t e d a s l o w a s 4 0 % ( C h i k w e n d u e t al.1994,Ogbodu,1995Anuebunwa et al 1998 This was partly because seed yams vary with ecological zones and farming systems in Nigeria (Asumugha and Eluagu,1999).The study therefore addresses the following

Socio-economic Determinants of the Adoption of Yam Minisett Technology in the Middle Belt Region of Nigeria

“…Results also indicated that the major problems hindering the adoption of yam minisett technology included scarcity of treatment chemicals, scarcity of mother seed yam and inability to understand the highly technical procedure, others included tediousness of the practice, lack of substantial increase in harvest, small size of tubers, and poor compatibility to farming system (Table 5). In comparison, Anyaegbunam et al (2009) found that major problems hindering adoption of improved technologies were high cost of input, unavailability of credit, inadequate access to land and insufficient extension services.…”

“…About 89 percent of the farmers were married, with modal family size between 4 and 6; indicating the presence of substantial intra-household demand for yam for food and income security, as well as availability of family labour as an input for yam production. High cost of labour was found to be a major constraint to adoption of yam minisett technology in Abia State of Nigeria (Anyaegbunam et al, 2009). Therefore, the availability of substantial family labour may reduce the cost of labour, thereby increasing the chances of the adoption of yam minisett technology in the study area.…”

Analysis of Non-adoption and Discontinuance of Improved Oil Palm Fruit Processing Technology in Kogi State, North Central Nigeria

“…Oladele (2005) reported that the propensity to adopt improved beans and maize varieties in Southern Nigeria was influenced by extension visit. Supporting this finding, Anyaegbunam, Eze, Ogbonna, and Korieocha (2009) found that major problems hindering adoption of improved technologies were high cost of input, unavailability of credit, inadequate access to land and insufficient extension services.…”

Factors limiting the yam minisett technique adoption: A review

“…Similarly, Ajieh (2012) found that farmers had a moderate awareness of the minisett technology in Delta State. Insufficient extension services have been implicated in the low adoption rate of YMT in Nigeria (Anyaegbunam et al 2009;Okoro, 2008). Broadly speaking, the rate of extension contact and adoption differs in years and in all the regions of the country (Table 2).…”

“…Labour alone can account for 78.1% of the production cost and, most YMT adopters use hired labour which is expensive and sometimes unreliable (Eyitayo, 2010). The high cost of labour was found to be a major constraint to the adoption of the YMT in Abia State of Nigeria (Anyaegbunam et al 2009). Without credit facilities, high costs of labour and farm inputs immensely contribute to the expenses in YMT thereby making it to be financially demanding for smallholder farmers to adopt.…”