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Factors affecting Adoption of agricultural technologies

Most adoption studies aimed at establishing factors underlying adoption of

improved innovations. As a result, there is an extensive body of literature on the

theory of innovation adoption. Bonabana-Wabbi (2002), in her study, pointed out

several of such factors that can affect adoption. According to her, they include

among others; government policies, technological change, market forces,

environmental concerns, demographic factors, institutional factors and delivery

mechanism. On this note, Chigona and Licker, (2008) said that one of the first

steps toward maximizing the rate of adoption of innovations is to understand these

factors as they can influence adoption.

Socio-Economic Factors

Socio-economic factors have been reported to significantly influence adoption of

agricultural technologies. In a survey report by the Institute of Agricultural

Research (IAR 2001) in Nigeria, women are being prohibited to be directly

involved in farming activities in some communities in northern Nigeria because of

religious limitations. The report therefore stated that sex composition in cowpea

production is very vital as the role of each sex is seen as very crucial to the

production of the crop. In her findings, Kamara (2009) reported that male adoption

of soybean was higher than that of the female in Borno State. She however stressed

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the importance of the roles both sexes play in soybean production and again stated

that majority of households who adopted the soybean technology were those

headed by males. Yanguba (2004) in support of this said education of household

head and farming experience is expected to have a positive effect on adoption of

agricultural technologies. Bonabana-Wabbi (2002) classified age as the primary

latent characteristic in adoption decision. Farmers perception that technology

development and the subsequent benefits, require long duration to realize, can

reduce their interest in the new technology because of their advanced age and the

possibility of not living long enough to enjoy it (Caswell et al., 2001; Khanna,

2001).

Institutional Factors

Institutional factors and policy variables that include the extent of competitiveness

of credit and labor markets, access to extension, the land tenure system, and social

prescribed gender roles make up the other set of determinants of adoption and dis-

adoption, (Tura, et al., 2009). The effect of land tenure security is expected to be

positive on both technology adoption and continuation. Farmer who does not own

land may not be able to capture the full returns from investments in new

technology, and thus, will be less willing to use new technology. This is either

because they must share the increased product with a landlord or because the

expected flow of returns exceeds their period of secure tenure. Inadequate

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