ABSTRACT
This study investigated the influence of gender in the adoption of cassava value-
added technologies (CVATs) in Imo State, Nigeria. Information on socioeconomic
characteristics of the respondents, level of adoption of CVATs, factors affecting
decision to adopt CVATs, and problems encountered by both male and female
farmers in the adoption of CVATs in the study area was solicited with a structured
questionnaire designed for the purpose from 70 male and 70 female cassava
farmers. Frequencies, means and percentages were used to present results of the
socioeconomic profiles of the farmers while Probit regression analysis was
employed to analyze factors affecting decisions to adopt cassava value-addition
technologies. Results obtained indicated that most of the respondents were aged
(especially females), married, received formal education, had more than 10 years
of experience in cassava production, had household sizes above 4 persons, were
mostly subsistent farmers that operated mostly on small sized farm lands, belonged
to farmers’ associations and had irregular extension contacts. The results also
showed that of the eight major CVATs disseminated in the study area, the most
adopted CVATs among the male cassava farmers were garri (mean = 3.68),
cassava chips (mean = 3.37) and HQCF (mean = 3.34), while the most adopted
among the female farmers were garri and cassava fufu flour, with mean adoption
score values of 4.05 and 3.18 respectively. Factors that significantly influenced
decisions to adopt CVATs by female farmers were age, household size, farm size,
complexity and affordability of technology, while those that significantly influenced
male cassava farmers’ decisions were age, education, farm size, farm income and
membership of farmers association. The main constraints encountered in the
adoption of CVATs were lack of readily organized markets for the products as
identified by 78.7% of the male and 82.7% of the female farmers, and lack of
equipment/facilities as identified by 76.0% and 70.6% of male and females
respectively. It was recommended that governments and other interested parties
should ensure provision of suitable markets, equipment and facilities, and
encourage and support lending institutions to provide credit facilities to rural
farmers in order to improve adoption of CVATs. |
