EFFECTS OF SOCIO-CULTURAL FACTORS ON EFFECTIVE AGRICULTURAL TRAINING PROGRAMS FOR FARMERS BY THE BENUE STATE AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY IN ZONE C

Abstract

Most agricultural innovations were not sustainably adopted due to incompatibility to social and cultural practices. Based on this proposition, this study was designed to analyze the effects of socio-cultural factors on agricultural training programs for farmers by the Benue State Agricultural and Rural Development Authorities (BNARDA) for farmers in Zone C. Seven communities were purposively selected due to their unique cultural practices and a total of 118 respondents were randomly selected for the study. Questionnaire was used as tool for data collection.  Descriptive statistics and logit regression were used for data analysis. The results show that there were 22 % of respondents aged between 50-60 years, 72 % of them were married and about 60 % had at least secondary educational attainment.  Annual income of respondents was between ₦80,000.00 - ₦100,000.00. About 72 % had farming experience of less than 10 years, and 31 % were cosmopolites. The result further shows that fear of ostracization was among the major reasons that inhibit training program participations. The results of logit analysis show that education (-3.3987), gender (2.268), rivers/streams (-.732) and leadership (2.150) were significantly affect training program. It was concluded that farmer who have strong cultural beliefs were responsible for non- participation in the training program. It was recommended that aggressive advocacy program be embarked by BNARDA before packaging a training program for the farmers.