Farmers’ attitude towards adoption of bio-fortified cassava technologies disseminated by public and private extension system in southwest, Nigeria

Abstract

Cassava production has witnessed technological innovations in recent times to address vitamin A deficiency among many households. The study examined the attitude of farmers towards the adoption of bio-fortified cassava technologies in southwest Nigeria. A total of three hundred and sixty respondents were drawn from public and private extension systems for the study. Data were collected using a validated questionnaire and focus group discussion and analysed with descriptive statistics while hypotheses were tested with t-test and Pearson Product Moment Correlation. Results show that adoption of bio-fortified cassava varieties among farmers in both public and private extension systems (42.0% and 35.0% respectively) was low despite the essential attributive benefits to farmers. A significant difference exists in the attitude towards the adoption of bio-fortified cassava technologies between farmers in public and private extension systems (t = 4.729, p = 0.000). Farmers under public extension services, unlike their counterparts in private extension system were unfavorably disposed to the adoption of bio-fortified cassava technologies due to some varietal characteristics. The attitude of farmers under public extension system was influenced by age (r = 0.143, p = 0.055) while those in the private extension system was influenced by years spent on education (r = 0.149, p = 0.046). The study concludes that farmers in public and private extension systems exhibited differential attitudinal response towards adoption of bio-fortified cassava technologies. It is therefore recommended that technologies on bio-fortified cassava should be re-visited by researchers to make them more demand-driven and feasible within farming circumstances.