Full Length Research Paper

Acceptability of improved crop production practices among rural women in Aguata agricultural zone of Anambra State, Nigeria

Edna c. Matthews-Njoku¹, o. m. Adesope²* and Chiamaka iruba¹

¹department of Agricultural Extension, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria.

²Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: omadesope@yahoo.co.uk. Tel: +234 (0) 703 095 8561.

Accepted 16 September, 2008

The acceptance of improved crop production practices by rural women in Aguata Agricultural Zone of Anambra State, Nigeria was examined in this paper. The objectives of the study include identification of the available improved crop production practices, determination of the women’s adoption level, identification of problems that limit the rural women’s acceptability of improved crop production practices, and to ascertain the relationship between the socio-economic characteristics of the women and their decision to adopt. Structured questionnaire was administered to one hundred randomly sampled women from twenty communities in five local government areas. Data analysis was by the use of frequency distribution, percentages, mean and multiple regression technique. It was observed that the respondents adopted ten out of twelve selected improved practices. The study revealed significant relationship between adoption and the following variable, household size (t-value = 4.419), number of farms owned (t-value = 2.391) farming experience (t-value = 2.938) and extension contact (t-value = 3.034). It is recommended that rural women should be encouraged through access to appropriate inputs, land, credit facilities and policy promotion for increased and effective agricultural productivity.

Key words: Adoption, improved cassava technology, rural women.