Awareness and Use of the Rapid Seed Yam Multiplication Technology by Farmers In Nigeria s Yam Belt.

Transcription

1 PAT 08; (1): ISSN: Online copy available at Publication of Faculty of Agriculture, Nasarawa State University, Keffi Awareness and Use of the Rapid Seed Yam Multiplication Technology by Farmers In Nigeria s Yam Belt. Okoro, J. K Department of Crop and Environmental Protection, University of Agriculture, Makurdi. ABSTRACT A field survey on the awareness and use of the minisett technique of rapid seed yam multiplication was undertaken in 18 states of Nigeria in 04. The minisett technology which was developed in 1982 by National Root Crop Research Institute Umudike appears not to have been accepted by farmers in Nigeria. This survey was to determine the level of awareness and use of the technique in Nigeria and to seek to know the problems encountered by the farmers who are using it and those not using it. Two hundred structured questionnaires were distributed in each of the states and farmers responded to questions asked. Results showed that only about 46.6% of the respondents were aware of the minisett technique nationwide while only about 22.4% are using the technique. About 24.2% of the respondents who were aware of the technique refused to use it due to the following reasons: - Low sprouting rate of minisetts, which emerged as the greatest problem militating against the technique with 79% of the respondents nationwide complaining about the problem. Other problems reported by farmers include ignorance of technical details (39.7%), technique being labor intensive (38.3%), adverse weather (34.4%), lack of farm inputs (17.8%) and poor storage facilities (1.7%). Sources of farmers information about the technique included extension agents (4.2%), farmers friends (39.3%), schools (11.4%) and newspapers (0.6%). Keyword: Yam Minisetts, Technique, Awareness survey, use INTRODUCTION Yam is a major staple food crop in Nigeria. The importance of yam can be shown in it s utilization as food in several forms. It can be boiled, baked, fried, roasted and mashed (Cobley and Steele, 1976). Yam constitutes an average of 32% of farmers gross income derived from arable crops (Orkwor, 1998). Yam also has ritual and socio-cultural significance in Nigeria. The global production of yam is.1 million metric tons annually (FAO, 1998). About % to 9% of this amount is produced in West Africa. Nigeria alone accounts for about 6 to 71% of the world total production (Nweke et al, 1991; FAO, 1998). Yam production in Nigeria is declining substantially due to many factors especially cost of planting materials and labour which accounts for about 0% and 40% of the cost of production respectively (Nweke et al, 1991). The high cost of planting material has necessitated the search for alternative means of massive production of setts at minimum

2 PAT 09; (1): ISSN: ; Okoro, J. K; Awareness and Use of the Rapid Seed Yam.23 cost and with high efficiency Miego and Lyongo (1982). Among other methods of rapid multiplication of yam setts, the minisett technology stands out as the most promising in Nigeria (Okoro and Kalu, 1989). It can generate large quantities of yams with minimal inputs and less complication in technique. However since the introduction of this technique in 1982 by the NRCRI, Umudike (Okoli and Igbokwe 1982), it s rate and level of adoption by traditional yam farmers has been extremely low (Ogbodu 199; Iwueke, 19 and Okoro, 1999). Their studies were restricted to Enugu and Imo states. This study was therefore, undertaken to evaluate the level of awareness and use of the technique in Nigeria. This will help researchers to focus research attention in the problematic areas in order to improve the technique further and make it acceptable to the yam farmers. MATERIALS AND METHODS The research data used in this study were collected in 04 by the use of structured questionnaires administered by using random selection procedures. The research was carried out in 18 states of Nigeria (See Table 1 pg 6). This cut across the yam belt of Nigeria Agboola (1979). A multistage random sampling was used to select respondents from the states. The first stage involved the selection of two agricultural zones in each of the 18 states, while the second stage involves the selection of one local government areas (LGA) from each of the zones. Then from each LGA, a community was randomly selected making a total of 36 communities. In each community, one hundred contact farmers were randomly selected bringing the sample number to 30 respondents. The variable on which data were collected includes the awareness of the minisett technique, sources of farmers information. Use of the technique and problems encountered. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics such as percentages and means. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The result of the level of awareness and use of the minisett technique by farmers in Nigeria s yam belt is shown in Table 1. Only about 46.6% of the respondents were aware of the minisett technique while the remaining 3.4% of respondents were not aware. Among the people who were aware of the technique, only about 22.4% of them are using it for massive production of seed yams, while the remaining 24.2% of the respondents who are aware of the technique refused to use it due to various reasons. Awareness of the technique in the states was highest in Imo state with about 9% of the respondents indicating awareness of the technique, while Edo state recorded the lowest awareness level with only 6.% of the respondents indicating awareness of the

3 PAT 09; (1): ISSN: ; Okoro, J. K; Awareness and Use of the Rapid Seed Yam.24 technique. Kogi state recorded the highest percentage of respondents (%) who use the technique while Edo and Ondo states recorded the least percentage (3%) respectively. Table 2 shows the sources of farmers information about the minisett technique. About 4% of those who are aware of the technique got their information from extension agents, while 39.3% got their information from friends and neighbours. About 11.4% learnt it in schools. Radio, television and newspapers contributed little or nothing in enlightening the public in the minisett technology. Extension agents in four states (Anambra, Nassarawa, Taraba, and Kogi) were responsible for disseminating information on the technique to farmers. All the respondents who are aware of this technique got the information from extension agents. Respondents who got their information about the minisett technique from schools were highest in Kaduna state (%) while those who got theirs from friends and neighbours were highest in Ekiti state (%). All respondents from Imo state complained of lack of inputs as the greatest problem militating against their adoption of the technique while % of respondents in Ondo state were ignorant of technical details. The major reason given by non users of the technique for rejecting it are shown in Table 3. The six major reasons given for not using the minisett technique includes low percentage germination of setts due to rotting/drying of setts (79.4%), Lack of inputs (17.8%), labour intensive and delay before gain (38.3%), adverse weather (34.4%), ignorance of technical details (39.7%) and poor storage facilities (1.7%). The greatest problem militating against the use of the technique as reported by respondents from all the states was low percentage germination caused by rotting and drying of setts, while poor storage facility was reported to be the least problem. The result of this survey shows that the awareness of the technique among farmers is still low (47%) after twenty four years of the development of the minisett technique by the NRCRI Umudike. The percentage that are using the technique is still very low nationwide (22.4%). This finding is in line with the report of Ogbodu (199), Iwueke (19) and Okoro (1999) who reported that the adoption rate of the minisett technique was still below %. Iwueke (19) and Anuebunwa et al, 1998 also discovered that most of the farmers that had adopted the yam minisett technique reverted to their local practice. The six basic reasons given by the respondents for not using the technique in this research are basically same as those given by respondents in the studies conducted by Iwueke (1991) and Anuebunwa et al. (1998). The only additional reason advanced by farmers in Iwueke s studies was the fact that the minisett technology does not fit into their intercropping farming systems, since it was developed under sole cropping system. The biggest problem militating against the adoption of the technique by farmers is the low sprouting rate of minisetts and even the ones that sprout do not do so uniformly. This problem is attributed to the rotting and drying up of setts and the problem of apical dominance in tubers (Onwueme, 1982). Apical dominance is a phenomenon whereby

4 PAT 09; (1): ISSN: ; Okoro, J. K; Awareness and Use of the Rapid Seed Yam.2 tubers sprout first from the head region whether whole or cut setts, followed by the middle portion and lastly from the tail region, due to greater concentration of the hormones which promote sprouting on the head region. This results in non uniform sprouting of setts from various portions of the tuber. The researchers should go back to the field to find a solution to this problem if this promising technique will be completely accepted and adopted by farmers. More efforts should be geared towards accelerating the dissemination of the technology throughout the yam belt of Nigeria. Both the print and electronic media should be mobilized to disseminate the technical details of the technique to supplement the efforts of Extension agents. Ekwe and Amamgbo (02) suggested specialized training programme for farmers. Awareness creation through mass media, strategic technology campaign programmes as well as regular field days/agricultural shows or the combination of a selected number of these strategies would necessarily become useful in increasing technology adoption by the farmers. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION The result of this study reveals that the awareness of the minisett technology by farmers nationwide is still low (47%) after 24 years of its development and the percentage that are using it, is lower (22.4%). This low level of awareness and use of the technology is due to slow dissemination of the information to farmers and the low, late and non uniform sprouting rates of the minisetts. The researchers therefore, should improve on the technology further taking care of these problematic areas and the extension agents and outfits should accelerate the dissemination of the improved package to farmers. Government should also help to provide the necessary inputs and storage facilities needed to boost the moral of the farmers.

5 PAT 09; (1): ISSN: ; Okoro, J. K; Awareness and Use of the Rapid Seed Yam.26 Table 1: Awareness and use of minisett technique by farmers in Nigeria s yam belt. States Imo Anambra Nassarawa Taraba Plateau Oyo Ekiti Kaduna Kogi Benue Abia Ebonyi Adamawa Ogun Osun Edo Delta Ondo Total Respondents who are aware of the technique. N=0 Respondents who are aware and use the technique Respondents who are aware and do not use the technique Respondents who Are not aware of The technique. Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage Freq. Percentage Source: Field Survey, 04.

6 PAT 09; (1): ISSN: ; Okoro, J. K; Awareness and Use of the Rapid Seed Yam.27 Table 2 : Sources of farmers information about the minisett technique. Sources of information (% of Respondents) States Schools Radio Television Friends and Neighbors Imo 1 Anambra Nassarawa Taraba Plateau 34 Oyo 7.0 Ekiti Kaduna 40 Kogi Benue 37 Abia 40 Ebonyi 4 Adamawa 7.0 Ogun 1 Osun Edo Delta 7 83 Ondo 1 0 Average Source: Field Survey, 04. Newspapers Extension Agents

7 PAT 09; (1): ISSN: ; Okoro, J. K; Awareness and Use of the Rapid Seed Yam.28 Table 3: Major reasons given by respondents for not using the minisett technology. States Imo Anambra Nassarawa Taraba Plateau Oyo Ekiti Kaduna Kogi Benue Abia Ebonyi Adamawa Ogun Osun Edo Delta Ondo Average Source: Field Survey Low germination % caused by rotting and drying of setts Percentage of non users reporting a given reason (%) Lack of inputs e.g. Labor intensive chemicals, funds, and delay before land, planting gain. material, fertilizers Adverse weather conditions Ignorance of technical details Poor Storage Facilities. 1.7

8 PAT 09; (1): ISSN: ; Okoro, J. K; Awareness and Use of the Rapid Seed Yam.29 REFERENCES Agboola, S. A (1979). An Agricultural Atlas of Nigeria. Oxford University Press. 248pp. Anuebunwa, F. O; B. O Ugwu; A. W. Iloka; J. E. C. Ikeorgu and A. Udealor (1998). Extent of adoption of improved yam minisett technology by farmers in the major yam growing areas of Nigeria. A Research report submitted to NARP Abuja by NRCRI Umudike. Cobley, L. S. and Steele, W. M. (1976). An introduction to the Botany of Tropical Crops. 2 nd ed; the English Language book Society and Longman. London. Ekwe, K. C. and Amamgbo L. E. F. (02). Accelerated Dissemination of root and tubers Crops technologies. A strategy for poverty eradication in Nigeria. Proceedings of the 36 th Annual Conference of the Agricultural Society of Nigeria held at the federal University of Technology Owerri, Nigeria, October -24, pp Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) (1998). Production Year Book. FAO Rome. Iwueke, C. C (19). Adoption behaviors of farmers towards yam minisetts technique in Imo state of Nigeria. The Nigerian Agricultural Journal Vol. 2 (2) page Miego, J. and Lyongo, S. N. (1982). Yams Igname. Clarend on Press. Oxford. Nweke, F. I; B. O. Ugwu; C.L.A. Asadu and P. Ay (1991). Production cost in yam based cropping system of South Western Resource and Crop Management Division Research Monograph No. 6. IITA, Ibadan, Nigeria 29p. Ogbodu, B.C. (199). Report on extension activities in Enugu state of Nigeria. Proceedings of the th Annual Zonal farming systems Research and extension workshop, Umudike. December 199. Okolo, O. O and Igbokwe, M.C (1982). Rapid multiplication of yam minisett technique. Research Bulletin No. 2. National Root Crop Research Institute Umudike 12p. Okoro J. K and B. A Kalu (1989). Problems and Prospects of the rapid seed yam multiplication technique. A project submitted for B. Agric degree at the University of Agriculture, Makurdi. Okoro, F. U. (1999). Technological gaps in yam minisett technique among yam growers in Owerri Agricultural zone of Imo State Nigeria, Journal of Agric. Extension 3: Onwueme, I.C. (1982). The tropical tuber crops, Yams, Cassava, Sweet potato, Cocoyams. John Wiley and sons Ltd. Chichester. Orkwor G.C. (1998). The importance of yams. In Food yams: Advances in research orkwor et al; eds. 1998, pp 1-12.