Adoption of post-harvest technologies disseminated via Women-In-Agriculture (WIA) Programme by rural women in Ekiti State, Nigeria: Issues in extension practices.

Abstract

The study investigated the adoption of Post-Harvest Technologies (PHTs) disseminated by Women-In-Agriculture programme (WIA) of the Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) in Ekiti State, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select one hundred and eight rural women for the study. A validated interview schedule was employed to source information from rural women on socio-economic characteristics, available PHTs and constraints to the adoption of these technologies Descriptive statistics such as frequency count, percentage, mean, ranking were used to explain data collected while probit regression model was used to determine the relationships between rural women's socio-economic characteristics and the adoption of PHTs. The study revealed that eight PHTs out of ten introduced to them were adopted. Among the most well adopted PHTs by the rural women were preparation of bean cakes and “moinmoin”, soya bean into soya powdered and liquid milk, conversion of rice husks to feed mills etc. The study revealed that six variables were statistically and positively significant with the adoption of PHTs at both 5% and 10%. The identified variables are educational level (0.004**), farm size (0.097*), annual income (0.002*), social organization membership (0.077**), access to extension services (0.024**) and access to credit facilities (0.012**).However, age (-0.110**) was negatively correlated with the adoption of PHTs at 5% of probability, However, household size (-0.058) and farming experience (-0.021) were not statistically significant at any level. The major challenge faced by the rural women in adopting PHTs was inadequate capital. Relevant policy recommendations were made.