INVESTIGATION OF FACTORS INFLUENCING RICE FARMERS’ PARTICIPATION IN FARMER FIELD SCHOOL (FFS) IN EDO STATE, NIGERIA.

Abstract

This study was carried out to investigate the factors influencing rice farmers’ participation in Farmer Field School (FFS) in Edo State, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling technique was used for the selection of sample with structured questionnaire administered to generate data from the respondents. A total of 135 farmers were randomly selected for the study. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple regression model. The study revealed that age, education, household size, farm size and farming experience significantly influenced rice farmers’ participation in FFS in Edo State with an R² value of 0.68. The major constraint to rice farmers’ participation in FFS in Edo State, Nigeria was poor extension visit to the farmers (100%) which was ranked first, followed by bad road network (88.9%) which was ranked second. Other constraints to rice farmers’ participation in FFS were weak education of the participants (87.4%), poor awareness of the programme (74.1%), inadequate incentives (65.2%) and inadequate credits facility given to the rice farmers (41.5%) in the area. These were ranked third, fourth, fifth and sixth respectively. It was concluded that, the participation of rice farmers in FFS should be adequately motivated by ameliorating the observed constraints in the study. Therefore, this study recommended that the rice farmers’ participants in FFS should be encouraged to form groups in order to access credit and rice enhancing strategies such as value addition easily. It was also recommended that FFSs should be located close to participating farmers’ residence for easy accessibility. This was informed by the bad road network experienced in the area.