ISSN 2329-9797
International Journal of Agricultural Economics and Extension ISSN 2329-9797 Vol. 5 (5), pp. 295-301, May, 2017. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Factors affecting adoption of post-harvest technologies of selected food crops in Rivers State, Nigeria
1Elemasho M.K., 2S.D.Y. Alfred, 1C.C. Aneke, 1A.J.C. Chugali and 1O. Ajiboye
1Nigerian Stored Products Research Institute, Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria.
2Department of Agricultural Extension and Communication Technology, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria.
Corresponding author. [email protected]. Tel. +234 8037535105; +234 8024609761
Accepted 23 May, 2017
Abstract
The study was conducted to determine the factors affecting adoption of post-harvest technologies of selected food crops in Rivers State, Nigeria. A multistage snow-ball procedure was used to sample 135 selected food crops farmers in the State. A well structured questionnaire was used to obtain information from the respondents and analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistical tools. The results revealed that, majority (85.9%) of the respondents were females, mostly married (84.4%), with house-hold sizes between 5-9 persons (54.8%). Respondents mean age was 41.0 years, with mean of 15.9 years’ farming experience co-farmer was the most commonly used sources of information on post-harvest technologies. Factors determined to be affecting the adoption of selected post-harvest technologies in the study area were, socio-economic characteristics of the respondents and sources of information on post-harvest technologies. All socio-economic characteristics measured were significantly related to adoption level with P – value less than 0.05. The technologies in the package were not introduced to the farmers (100%) and the level of adoption was poor (100%). The respondents’ sources of information influenced their adoption of post-harvest technologies with the p- value less than 0.05. The study recommended that available post-harvest technologies should be made known to all users.
Key words: Adoption, factors, food crops, post-harvest, technologies.