Assessment of Information Channels for Technology Adoption among Farmers who Cultivate under Utilised Legumes in Oke-Ogun Area of OYO State, Nigeria

Abstract

The production of the underutilised legumes in Nigeria is at a very low ebb, attempt to increase its production requires adoption of improved technologies on the crops. Hence, Information channels for technology adoption among farmers who cultivate underutilised legumes in Oke-Ogun area of Oyo State was therefore investigated. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used and 75 respondents were selected through snowball technique. Results indicate that 49.3% of farmers were above 50 years, majority were male (81.3%),married (76.0%) and educated (67.6%). Majority of the respondents had high access to radio (\(\bar{x}\) =1.81) and farmers’ association (\(\bar{x}\) =1.41) for information on underutilized legumes and preferred radio (\(\bar{x}\) =0.93) and extension agents (\(\bar{x}\) =0.92) as major sources of information dissemination. Poor seed viability (\(\bar{x}\) =1.78 ) and poor yield (\(\bar{x}\) =1.77 ) were the major constraints limiting production of underutilised legumes in the study area. There was significant relationship in the respondents’ educational status (χ2 =10.363; p=0.016) and information channels for technology adoption among farmers who cultivate underutilised legumes. It is recommended that research institutes should carry out studies with a view to generate technologies that would alleviate constraints faced by farmers in the production of lesser legumes.