Socio-economic Factors Influencing Adoption of Dual-purpose Cowpea Production Technologies in Bichi Local Government Area of Kano State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated the socio-economic factors influencing adoption of dual-purpose cowpea production (DPC) technologies among farmers in Bichi Local Government Area of Kano State, Nigeria. Data were collected with the use of questionnaire administered to 200 farmers selected randomly. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and step-wise multiple regression were used to analyze the data. Findings indicated that 35.7% of the farmers were within 41-50 years. The largest percentage (24.5%) had a family size within the range of 11-15, with a mean of 8. Majority of the farmers had formal education, ranging from primary to post-secondary. They had more than 1 ha of land, with a mean of 2.2 ha. They all participated in one form of farmers' organization or the other. The mean adoption rate was 77.5%. The use of improved seeds and insecticides had the highest adoption score (100%). Result of the correlation analysis indicated that level of education, household size, farming experience; number of ruminants owned, social participation and contact with extension agents were significantly related to technology adoption and hence, influenced adoption of DPC production technologies. Moreover, level of education, social participation and extension contact made the highest contribution in explaining variations in the differential adoption of the DPC production technologies among the farmers. It was concluded that educational level, social participation and extension contacts were the major socio-economic factors influencing adoption of the DPC production technologies. The need for improvements in promoting these factors, were therefore recommended.