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7/29/2019 BASELINE SURVEY ON NEEDS ASSESSMENT AND AWARENESS OF HORTICULTURAL TECHNOLOGIES IN NATIONAL HO

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Continental J. Agronomy 6 (1): 42 - 48, 2012 ISSN: 2141 - 4114 Wilolud Journals, 2012

http://www.wiloludjournal.comPrinted in Nigeria

BASELINE SURVEY ON NEEDS ASSESSMENT AND AWARENESS OF HORTICULTURALTECHNOLOGIES IN NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTES ADOPTED

VILLAGES

Amao, I. O., Adebisi-Adelani, O. and Olajide-Taiwo, F. B.National Horticultural Research Institute, Idi-Ishin, Jericho, Ibadan.

ABSTRACTThe main source of knowledge creation and technology generation in sub-Sahara Africa including Nigeria has been

the National Agricultural Research Institutes (NARIs), the Universities and technology generation arm of theagricultural sector. The study was carried out in Osegere and Awaye (Oyo State) to assess the awareness of the

National Horticultural Research Institute (NIHORT) technologies by her two adopted villages as well as theirneeds. Sixty respondents were sampled in both villages. Data for the study was collected with the aid of structured

interview guide and Focus Group Discussion (FGD). The analysis involved the use of descriptive (frequencies andpercentages) and inferential (Chi-square) statistics. The result revealed that most of the sampled farmers in both

villages are not aware of technologies generated by NIHORT with the exception of Osegere where about 50% areaware of the rapid multiplication technology of plantain. The study also revealed that the community (X2 = 6.13)to which a farmer belongs and household size (X2 =24.55) had a significant relationship with their awareness of the

rapid multiplication technology in plantain; while age (X 2 = 33.21) of respondents had a significant relationshipwith their awareness of pineapple technology at P


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Amao, I. O et al.,: Continental J. Agronomy 6 (1): 42 - 48, 2012

development and technology transfer in Nigeria (NIHORT, 2004, Ojehomon, 1983, Ogungbaigbe, 2004).However, NIHORT has been able to generate and adapt improved technologies for banana and plantain

production (as well as other fruits) and development through collaboration with International Network forImprovement of Banana and Plantain (INIBAP) and International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA),

National Research Organizations and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). Dissemination of generatedtechnologies is ensured through collaboration with State Agricultural Development Projects (ADPs), Ministries

of Agriculture and Natural Resources, NGOs, Farmers Cooperatives and private farmers (NIHORT, 2004).

In order to adequately transfer most of her technologies, NIHORT adopted three villages - Osegere, Awaye and

Ogotun in the year 1996 during the era of the National Agricultural Research Project (NARP). Sometechnologies were introduced then such as Plantain and Banana Rapid Multiplication and Budded Citrus. Due to

dwindling of funds, there was poor monitoring that did not allow the project to be continued as planned. In

2006, a survey on awareness and usage of NIHORT technology was conducted which led to creation ofadditional adopted villages which are Igbara-odo and Birokiki. In, 2009 Agricultural Research Council of

Nigeria came up with the aim of reforming the adopted villages and they now mandated each Research Institute

to have two adopted villages which should not be more than 20km away from the institute. Then NIHORTchose Awaye and Osegere in Egbeda local government area of Oyo state to give room for proper monitoringand supervision. This led to the need to have a base line data of the villages so as to give room for future

assessment. Also due to the fact that NIHORT has been working with these villages, there arose the need toassess their awareness of NIHORT technologies. Thus, the general objective of the study is to assess the

awareness of NIHORT technologies by the 2 NIHORT adopted villages- Awaye and Osegere as well as theneeds of the villages. The specific objectives were:

To describe the personal characteristics of respondents in the study area.

To determine the awareness of respondents to NIHORT technologies in the study area.

To identify the constraints to agricultural production in the study area.

To identify the needs of the adopted villages.

Hypothesis

Ho: There is no significant relationship between awareness of some NIHORT technologies and the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The study area was Oyo State Nigeria. Oyo State belongs to the Yoruba ethnic group with a total population ofabout 5,591,589 inhabitants (NPC, 2006). Oyo State lies between 7 oN and 9oN and longitude 2.5oE and 5oE in

the rain forest and the derived savanna zones.

Osegere and Awaye were purposively sampled being the closest NIHORT adopted villages.

Structured questionnaire was used for the collection of baseline data on awareness of respondents to NIHORTTechnologies. Sixty farmers were randomly sampled from the group of farmers in the communities Awaye

(33) and Osegere (27). Focus Group Discussion (FGD) was used to assess the needs of the communities afterwhich they were ranked. The data collected using the structured questionnaire was analyzed using descriptive as

well as inferential statistics.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONPersonal characteristics of farmers

From Table 1, a majority of the respondents (farmers) in Awaye community are between the ages of 41-50,while in Osegere, the farmers are mostly between 61-70 years of age (29.6%). This shows that majority of

farmers in the two adopted villages are old, indicating that not much young people are involved in farming asobserved by Torimiro and Oluborode (2006); however in Osegere quite a percentage (25.9%) of the farmers are

between 20-30 years. In Awaye and Osegere, most of the farmers are male (60.6% and 70.4% respectively). Alarge percentage of the farmers are married in both villages- Awaye (78.8%) and Osegere (88.9%) respectively.

Households in both Awaye and Osegere are large sized households having between 6-10 household members

(57.6% and 74.1% respectively). Most of the farmers in both villages have no formal education (Awaye- 60.6%and Osegere - 40.7%) this might have a bearing on their level of awareness and adoption of agricultural

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innovations are affected by the literacy status of farmers. Those who are literate are expected to be moreinnovative because of their ability to reach the information more quickly and ability to take more risk (IAR,


2001). The results also showed that in Awaye- 72.7% of the respondents and 70% in Osegere have their

primary occupation as farming. All are farmers in Awaye and 96.3% of them in Osegere are members ofassociation with the main business of their association as farming. The benefits derived such as credit linkage,

fertilizer access, and access to market outlet are only received by some not all the farmers (39.4%, 18.2%, and12.1%) respectively in Awaye. On the other hand in Osegere, 29.0%, 11.1% and 3.7% of the farmers received

the credit linkage, fertilizer access and access to market outlet benefits for being members of their associationrespectively. In Awaye the largest percentage of farmers (42.4%) got the ownership of their accommodation

through inheritance while in Osegere most of them (51.9%) own their accommodation. 93.9% of farmers in

Awaye have no access to agricultural extension services while 63% have access in Osegere.

Table 1: Personal characteristics of the respondents

Personal characteristics of respondents Awaye Osegere

Percentage Percentage

Age

20-3031-4041-50

51-60>60

Total

12.118.239.4

6.124.2

100.0

25.914.811.1

14.833.3

100.0

Sex

MaleFemale

Total

60.639.4

100.0

70.429.6

100.0

Marital status

SingleMarried

WidowedTotal

15.278.8

6.1100.0

7.488.9

3.7100.0

Household size1-5

6-10>10

Total

33.3

57.69.1

100.0

18.5

74.17.4

100.0

Highest educational attainment

No formal educationKoranic education

Primary education

Secondary education

Post secondary education

60.63.0

15.2

18.2

3.0100.0

40.77.4

29.6

22.2

-100.0

Farming as primary occupationYes

No

Total

72.7

27.3

100.0

63.0

37.0

100.0

Membership of associationYes

No

Total

100.0

-

100.0

96.3

3.7

100.0

Main business of associationFarming

Religious / Cultural

Total

81.8

18.2

100.0

96.3

3.7

100.0

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Benefits derived from membership ofassociation*

Credit linkageAccess to fertilizer

Access to market outlet

39.418.2

12.1

29.611.1

3.7

Ownership of accommodationSelf

InheritedRented

OthersTotal

39.4

42.415.2

3.0100.0

51.9

33.314.8

-100.0

Access to agricultural extension servicesYes

NoTotal

6.06

93.94100.00

37.04

62.96100.00

Source: Field survey, 2009. (*- benefits do not add up to 100% as not all respondents recorded benefits of

membership of association).

Awareness of NIHORT technologies

Table 2 showed that in both villages, farmers were not aware of NIHORT technologies with the exception of51.9% of them in Osegere who were aware of rapid multiplication technology in plantain this is in consonance

with Okoro (2008) where about 46.6% of the respondents were aware of the minisett technique in yamproduction across Nigerias yam belt.

Table 2: Respondents awareness of NIHORT TechnologiesRespondents awareness of NIHORT

technology

Awaye Osegere


Rapid multiplication technique of plantain

AwareNot aware

Total

21.278.8

100.0

51.848.2

100.0Rapid multiplication technique of

pineappleAware

Not awareTotal

3.097.0

100.0

11.188.9

100.0

Budding technique in citrusAware

Not awareTotal

27.3

72.7100.0

25.9

74.1100.0

Source: Field survey, 2009.

Constraints to agricultural production

The results in Table 3 revealed that constraints faced by the farmers include lack of credit facilities, pests anddiseases attack, transportation problem/bad road and electricity problem. In Awaye, about 50% of the farmers

complained about the problem of transportation while 67% of the sampled farmers in Osegere had lack of creditfacilities as a major constraint to their production.

Table 3: Constraints to agricultural productionConstraints to agricultural production Awaye Osegere


Lack of credit facilities 15.2 66.7

Crop attack of pests and diseases 3.0 14.8

Transportation problem / bad road 45.5 3.7

Electricity problem 6.1 -

Lack of farm inputs 18.2 3.7

Lack of market facilities 12.1 11.1

Source: Field survey, 2009.

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Relationship between the awareness of NIHORT technologies and socio-economic characteristics

From Table 4, the hypothesis revealed that the community to which a farmer belongs (X 2=6.13) and householdsize (X2=24.55) had a significant relationship with their awareness of the rapid multiplication technology in

plantain as already shown in the descriptive statistics. This could also be due to the fact that NIHORT hadworked in collaboration with IITA to introduce hot water treatment of plantain/banana suckers in Osegere

during the NARP era. Also, the age of respondents (X2=33.21) was observed to have a significant relationshipwith their awareness of pineapple technology contrary to apriori expectation that the older the farmers the less

their willingness to try new innovations or take risks (Odoemenem and Obinne, 2010). In addition, theawareness of budded citrus technology had a significant relationship with the sex (X2=7.92) of the farmers as

most of them are males. This could be due to the fact that the male counterpart are the ones to get informed first

about any new information in the community.

Table 4: Relationship between awareness of NIHORT technologies and socio-economic characteristics of the

respondents

Socio-economic characteristics of respondents Df Chi-square

value

Asymp.Sig. (2

sided)Awareness of rapid multiplication technique of

plantainCommunity

Age

Marital statusSex

Household headHousehold size

Highest educational attainment

121

2

11

134

6.13**21.17

3.49

0.040.61

24.55**1.98

0.010.45

0.18

0.840.44

0.030.74

Awareness of rapid multiplication technique of

pineappleCommunity

AgeMarital status

SexHousehold head

Household sizeHighest educational attainment

121

21

113

4

1.5633.21**

0.862.31

1.434.39

6.54

0.210.04

0.650.13

0.230.97

0.16

Awareness of budding technique in citrusCommunity

AgeMarital status

SexHousehold head

Household sizeHighest educational attainment

1

212

11

134

0.01

27.101.92

7.92**1.82

9.350.80

0.91

0.170.38

0.010.18

0.750.94

Source: Field survey, 2009. (**- significant at p


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Table 5: Needs assessment of NIHORT adopted villages

Needs of adopted village-Osegere

Rank Needs of adopted village -Awaye

Rank

Finance 1 Road 1Provision of road 2 School (Primary and

Secondary)

2

Hall of meeting 3 Finance / Credit facilities 3

Provision of market 4 Markets 4

Provision of selective

herbicides

5 Hospitals 5

Establishment of oil palm

trees

6 Tractor 6

Fertilizer provision 7 Vehicles for transportation 7

Improved vegetable seeds 8 Cottage industry 8

Establishment of citrus

orchard for individualfarmer

9 Fertilizers 9

Establishment of improved

cocoa

10 Chemicals (herbicides) 10

Tractor hiring 11 Seedlings (cocoa, palm tree,

citrus, maize)

11

Personnel in hospital 12 Oil palm processingmachine

12

Women in special need 13 Gari processing machine 13

Oil palm processing

machine

14 Modern plant for drying

cassava

14

Farm tools/cutlass 15

Fish pond 16Dam 17

Borehole 18

Source: Field Survey, 2009.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONThe study revealed that the awareness of NIHORT technologies in the adopted villages of Awaye and Osegere

has been low. Low awareness that has been observed for these technologies could be improved through

participatory training between the extension unit and the farmers. There is the need to enhance the performance

of the extension unit for proper service delivery. This will lead to adoption of such technologies because asfarmers become aware of technologies, adoption of such technology consequently rises which ultimately leads

to increased agricultural production. The needs assessment of the communities also attest to the constraint offinance indicated by the respondents as finance is one of the three most important needs of both communities.

Thus, the constraints to agricultural production faced by farmers in the study area (finance/ credit access, amongothers) can be alleviated by giving them access to credit so as to improve their production in a bid to gaining the

benefits of improved technology generation.

REFERENCEAni, A.O., (2002). Factors inhibition agricultural production among rural women in Southern Ebonyi State,

Nigeria, Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, University of Maiduguri, Nigeria.

IAR (2001). Adoption of improved cowpea technologies in the savanna ecology of Nigeria: A report of surveyconducted on PEDUNE/PRONAF Project in Nigeria by Institute for Agricultural Research Ahmadu Bello

University, Samaru-Zaria, Nigeria, April, 2001.

Kaimowitz, D. K. and Merill-Sands, D. (1989). Making the link between agricultural research and technology

users. Conference Discussion paper ISNAR, The Hague.

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Mahadi, A. (2006). Horticulture in the concept of economic empowerment and industrial development in

Nigeria: Being a Keynote address delivered at the 24th Annual Conference of Horticultural Society of Nigeriaheld at Gombe State University, Gombe, September 17th-22nd, 2006, published by Horticultural Society of

Nigeria (HORTSON).

NIHORT (2004): Brochure of the National Horticultural Research Institute, NIHORT Press, Ibadan. 6pp.

Odoemenem I.U. and Obinne, C. P. O. (2010): Assessing the factors influencing the utilization of improvedcereal crop production technologies by small-scale farmers in Nigeria, Indian Journal of Science andTechnology Vol. 3 No. 1 (Jan 2010) pp 180-183, ISSN: 0974- 6846.

Ogungbaigbe, L. O. (2004). Research-Extension-Farmer-Linkages for fruit technology transfer in selected states

of southwestern Nigeria. Unpublished PhD thesis in the Department of agricultural Extension and Rural

Development, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, 191pp.

Ojehomon, O. O. (1983). Presidential address, Horticultural Society of Nigeria, Acta Horticulturae, 123, pp 17-

21.

Okoro, J. K. (2008). Awareness and Use of the Rapid Seed Yam Multiplication Technology by Farmers In

Nigerias Yam Belt, PAT 2008; 5 (1): 22-29 ISSN: 0794-5213, Online copy available atwww.patnsukjournal.net/currentissue, Publication of Faculty of Agriculture, Nasarawa State University, Keffi.

Torimiro, D.O. and A.A. Oluborode, (2006). Exploring socio-economic correlates of production needs for

enhancing food security through farm youth in southwest Nigeria.Pak. Journal of Applied Science Research, 2:248-255.

Received for Publication: 11/05/2012

Accepted for Publication: 14/07/2012

Corresponding authorAmao, I. O.National Horticultural Research Institute, Idi-Ishin, Jericho, Ibadan.

Email: [email protected]

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