EFFECTS OF VITAMIN A FORTIFIED CASSAVA TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION ON FOOD SECURITY OF RURAL FARMERS IN BENUE STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study assessed the effects of Vitamin A fortified Cassava technology adoption on food security status of cassava farmers in Benue State, Nigeria. The study determined the adoption level of vitamin A fortified cassava technologies and the factors affecting adoption of vitamin A fortified cassava by farmers in Benue state, Nigeria. It also examined the food security status of the farmers and the constraints associated with the adoption of vitamin A fortified cassava technology with the aim of finding ways to increase vitamin A fortified cassava production and productivity in the study area. The study revealed that the mean age was 43 years and (84.7% ) were married males with 83.1% at high level of formal education. The means household size of the farmers was 9 persons and most of them had been producing cassava for an average of 20 years. The study also revealed that (78.% ) of the respondents had contact with extension agents, 60.2% joined cooperatives organization and 28.4% had access to credit. The technologies such as plough before planting (44.1%), planting by June–July (86.4%), spacing of 25cm by 50cm (60.2%), seed/ stem cuttings of 35–50kg (62.7%), systemic herbicide (58.5%), organic fertilizer (61.0%) and harvesting period of 9–10 months (63.6%) after planting were the most adopted by the respondents. Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression estimates revealed that farming experience (0.2627), household size (0.3094), farm size (5.7025), extension contact (0.4804), income (0.0001), training received (4.7686) and distance to market (7.1218) were the factors found to influence adoption of vitamin A fortified cassava. On the food security status, 69.0% of the adopters’ households were found to be food secured, while 31.0% were not food secured. However, factors such as Loamy soil of (2.78), plough before planting (3.62), plough after planting (2.15), planting by June–July (3.64), planting in September (1.79), spacing of 25cm by 25cm (2.18), spacing of 25cm by 50cm (2.31), stem cuttings of 50kg per hectare (1.71), systemic herbicide application (2.51), contact herbicide application (3.40) and harvesting 9–10 months (1.90) at 1%, 5% and 10% probability level respectively, were found to have significant effects on food security status of the adopters of vitamin A cassava technologies. The major constraints associated with adoption of vitamin A fortified cassava in the study area were high cost of vitamin A fortified cassava stem ( = 2.50), inadequate input for cultivation (X= 2.40) and poor credit facilities to cassava farmers ( = 2.40) ranked 1st and 2nd, respectively. Based on the findings, the study concluded that the adoption of vitamin A fortified cassava technologies had significant effects on food security status of the respondents. It was therefore recommended that vitamin A fortified cassava farmers should be assisted with farm inputs, credit and other incentives to enhance their production. Also, farmers should organized themselves into groups for easy participation in seminars, workshops and tour that will expose them to better knowledge. Government at all levels and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) should implement policies that support farming of vitamin A fortified cassava because of its effect on food security status of the rural farmers.