Adoption and Disadoption of Sweet Potato (Ipomoea Batatas (L) Lam) Production and Processing Technologies by Farmers in South-eastern Nigeria.
ABSTRACT
This study sought to determine the adoption and disadoption of sweet potato production and processing technologies by farmers in the South-east zone of Nigeria. The specific objectives were to: determine the level of awareness of the sweet potato production and processing technologies among farmers in the zone; determine the extent of adoption and disadoption of the sweet potato production and processing technologies by farmers in the zone; examine the determinants of adoption and disadoption of the sweet potato production and processing technologies in the study area and identify the constraints to the adoption of sweet potato production and processing technologies in the zone.
Using the multistage sampling technique, and the structured interview schedule as instrument, data for the study were collected from a sample of two hundred and seventy (270) sweet potato farmers in the zone. Percentages, mean scores, probit analysis and exploratory factor analysis procedure were used as statistical tools for data analysis. The findings of the study showed that majority (79.63%) of the farmers (270) were aware of the sweet potato production technology, whereas the processing technology recorded a low level of awareness.
INTRODUCTION
Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L) Lam) is an herbaceous, warm-weather creeping plant belonging to the family Convolvulaceae and genus Ipomoea (Woolfe, 1992). The family is made up of 45 genera and 1,000 species, out of which only Ipomoea batatas is of economic importance to man and animals (Woolfe, 1992). It is known to be among the world’s most important, versatile and under-exploited food crops (International Potato Centre (CIP), 1999).
With more than 133 million tonnes in annual production, sweet potato currently ranks as the fifth most important food crop on a fresh-weight basis in developing countries after rice, wheat, maize and cassava (CIP, 1999). Average yields in several countries are well below the average yield of 15 tonnes per hectare for developing countries as a whole, and these in turn are well below the crop’s potential.
In the last decade, there has been a positive growth rate for sweet potato production in China, as well as a number of developing countries (CIP, 1999). China tops the list of world largest producers of sweet potato with 106,197,100 metric tonnes while Nigeria is third largest producer with 2,150,000 metric tonnes annually. In Africa, Nigeria is second largest producer of sweet potato after Uganda with 2,600,000 metric tonnes annually (National Root Crops Research Institute, 2009).
In Nigeria, the production, marketing and utilization of sweet potato have expanded to almost all the ecological zones within the past decade (NRCRI, 2009), and 200,000 to 400,000 hectares of land are under sweet potato cultivation. Yields of 17 sweetpotato root tubers have increased from farmers’ pre-research era of about 3 tonnes per hectare to 20-30 tonnes per hectare due to the availability of improved varieties (NRCRI, 2009).
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StudentsandScholarship Team.