Abstract:
This study was carried out to determine the level of the effect of elements of finance, land, education, labour, marketing, risk and uncertainty variables on non adoption of rice production technologies among farmers. Survey research design was used for the study. The study was carried out in Anambra State. The population of the study was 1,385 comprising 1, 031 non adopters, 274 adopters and 80 extension agents. The sample for this study was 416 respondents made up of 309 non adopters, 82 adopters and 25 extension agents. Two sets of questionnaire were used for data collection. In the first set, the questionnaire items had a 4-point response scale of Strongly Agree (4), Agree (3), Disagree (2) and strongly agree (1); while in the second set, the responses scale option were: High effect (4), Average effect (3), Slight effect (2) and No effect (1). The instrument was face-validated by 5 experts. Cronbach’s Alpha method was utilized to determine the internal consistency of the questionnaire items. The reliability coefficient (r) of 0.89 was obtained for the first set, while the second set had 0.87. The researcher and four research assistants administered 416 copies of first set of the questionnaire on the respondents in their various locations. Four hundred and fifteen (415) copies (99.8% return rate) of the questionnaire were retrieved after three weeks for analysis. Four hundred and fifteen copies (415) copies of second set of the questionnaire were also administered on the same group of respondents after two months gap from collection of the first set. This was used for collection of data on level of effect of elements of fiancé, land, education, labour, marketing, risk and uncertainty variables on non adoption. The entire 415 copies were retrieved. The data collected were analyzed using weighted mean, standard deviation and ranks to answer the research questions, while analysis of variance (ANOVA) and regression analysis were used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings from the study revealed that: forty eight (48) out of the 57 elements of finance, land, education, labour, marketing, risk and uncertainty variables were identified as elements that can cause non adoption of rice production technologies among farmers. It was also found out that, the 48 elements had effect on non adoption in a hierarchical order; with an element of risk and uncertainty having the highest effect, followed by, an element of finance, marketing and land in that order. The hypotheses tested revealed that there was no significant difference in the mean ratings of the responses of extension agents, adopters and non adopters on the level of effect of: three (3) elements each of finance, marketing, risk and uncertainty variables and one (1) element each of land and labour. It was therefore, recommended that the government and administrators of ADP should address the solution to the problem of non adoption of technologies in rice production through the prioritization of effect of the elements in the findings of this study.
