ASSESSMENT OF THE EXTENT OF ADOPTION OF NATIONAL CEREAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE (NCRI) RECOMMENDED RICE PRODUCTION PRACTICES IN KOGI-WEST, NIGERIA

Adoption of recommended rice production practices becomes very important if farmers are to achieve sustainability in rice farming. Therefore, the research describes the socioeconomic and institutional characteristics of the respondents, the types and level of adoption of recommended rice production practices, and identifies the constraints faced by rice farmers and the level of their severity. A multistage sampling procedure was used to select 201 respondents. The study relied mainly on primary data, which was achieved via a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were employed to achieve the stated objectives. Results on the socioeconomic and institutional characteristics revealed that the rice farmers were in their active age with the mean age of 43 years, and the majority (87.6%) were married. In addition, results on types and levels of recommended rice production adopted revealed that improved varieties of rice (FARO-67) and nursery preparation ranked 1st, and 83.1% of the respondents highly adopted the practices. Furthermore, results on constraints faced by rice farmers and the level of their severity revealed that the high cost of agro-chemicals (99%) was the major constraint faced by rice farmers, and it was very severe. It was concluded that the dissemination of the rice production practices was a success because of their high level of adoption. The high level of adoption of recommended rice production practices can be attributed to the fact that many farmers had extension contacts. Therefore, it is recommended that the government put in place such things as funds and policies to improve the extension services (both physical and electronic) in the study area and across Kogi State.