Adoption Index of Recommended Onion Production Practices and Correlation of Multivariate Factors among Smallholder Farmers

Abstract

Adoption of improved technologies and agricultural practices are prerequisites for increased farm productivity. Assessing the appropriateness of potential new technologies or practices increases the likelihood of adoption or modification to suit farmers‘ needs; however, low farm output still persists among smallholders, attributable to several factors including poor and low adoption of modern production practices. This study therefore analyzed the index of adoption of recommended onion production practices (ROPPs) and correlation of multivariate factors among smallholder farmers in Dambatta, Kano State, Nigeria. A multistage sampling procedure was used in selecting 100 respondents for this study. Primary data collected via well-structured questionnaires were analyzed using Descriptive statistics, Adoption index and Multivariate Correlation techniques.The results revealed that the prevalent ROPPs adopted by the farmers include improved onion varieties (78%), plant spacing (69%), planting method (55%), weed management (50%) and fertilizer application (44%). Moreover, most (72%) of the farmers have low adoption index (≤0.33). Further, significant correlations between multivariate factors (farm output, adoption cost and adoption index) exists and the estimated correlation coefficients for rxz, ryz and rxy were -0.53, 0.71 and -0.82 respectively. Subsidizing cost of adoption of ROPPs, improving access to modern production practices/technologies, agricultural credit/farm capital, extension services, adequate labour supply and tenure policy modification are recommended to ameliorate adoption constraints.