Adoption of drought-tolerant maize varieties and interrelated climate smart agricultural practices in Nigeria

Abstract

Background: In Sub-Saharan Africa, drought is one of the prevailing climatic conditions that has led to the modification of improved seeds to be resilient enough to improve yield and increase farm households' welfare. However, like most climate-smart agricultural practices, the adoption of drought-tolerant maize varieties is low. This study examines the simultaneous adoption decisions of drought tolerant maize varieties and other climate-smart agricultural practices such as intercropping, row-planting, inorganic fertiliser, manure, and residue incorporation using nationally representative survey data from 1370 rural households in Nigeria. Multivariate Tobit and ordered probit models are applied to assess the complementarity and or substitutability effect among CSAPs, the predictors of the joint adoption, and the adoption intensity of CSAPs. Results: The results show a significant positive correlation between DTMVs and inorganic fertilisers, DTMVs and intercropping, and DTMVs and manure. However, the strongest adoption complementarity is found between DTMVs and manure. The probability and the extent of adoption of CSAPs are commonly determined by household wealth, access to loans, access to training in improved production practices, and membership in input supply and farm cooperatives. Conclusion: The study suggests that the adoption of DTMVs has varying degrees of relations with other CSAPs informing the need for policies aimed at increasing its adoption to consider existing CSAPs among maize farm households.