AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION EFFECTIVENESS AND ADOPTION OF REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE PRACTICES AMONG CASSAVA FARMERS IN SOUTHWEST, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study was carried out to examine the agricultural extension effectiveness and adoption of regenerative agriculture practices among cassava farmers in Southwest, Nigeria. Cross sectional data were collected with the use of well-structured questionnaire across 320 active cassava farmers selected using a multistage sampling procedure. Descriptive Statistics (DS), Recursive Bivariate Probit (RBT) and Regression with Endogenous Treatment Effect Regression (METEM) were used for data analysis. Descriptive results showed that 75% of respondents (234) adopted RAPs while 65.1% (203) had access to extension services. Among adopters, 67.1% were male compared to 85.1% among non-adopters, with adopters having a mean age of 45.9 years, 15.6 years farming experience and 5.43 ha farm size compared to non-adopters with 15.2 years mean age, 8.9 years’ experience and 3.38 ha farm size. 89.7% of RAPs adopters belonged to farmers' associations and 77.8% attended Farmers Field School, with adopters located closer to ADP offices (1.75 km vs 5.67 km for non-adopters). Farmers with extension access were younger (43.7 vs 49.8 years), had 14.8 years’ experience and 28.7 tons previous output, while those without access had 16.9 years’ experience and 34.5 tons output. The Recursive Bivariate Probit estimate revealed that education (0.0426, p<0.10), farm size (0.1636, p<0.01), farm ownership (0.2035, p<0.10), access to credit (0.2401, p<0.05) and previous cassava yield positively and significantly influenced RAPs adoption, while cultural resistance (-0.1749, p<0.01) had a significant negative association. Access to agricultural extension was significantly determined by age (-0.1688, p<0.05) which reduced access, household size (0.0713, p<0.01) and reduction in distance to ADP office which increased access. The Regression with Endogenous Treatment Effect Model showed that association membership, primary occupation as farming, access to credit, years of education, farm size and access to extension services had positive and significant association with cassava yield. Access to extension itself was found to decrease with age and increase with household size and farm size. Overall, RAPs adoption was greatly influenced by extension access, and both are jointly influenced by farm size, credit access, household size, education, FFS attendance and proximity to ADP office.