Analyses of Farmers Level of Awareness of Improved Rubber Technologies in Edo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Agricultural is the largest employer of labour in Nigeria. It also contributes more than 30% to the total annual Gross Domestic Product. Nigeria used to be the leading rubber producer in Africa in the 1960s, but has been overtaken by countries like Cote dvore, Republic of Congo, Cameroon and Liberia. Some of the reasons for low productivity include lack/poor awareness of value addition, poor participation of the youths, use of low yielding planting materials, and low competitive character of the rubber industry in an economy dominated by oil and gas. Rubber Research Institute of Nigeria has developed rubber technologies among which are improved rubber clones (NIG. 800 series), recommended rubber  spacing, intercropping under immature rubber plantations, tapping techniques, integrated mini-livestock farming under matured rubber plantations, rubber quality improvement practices, pest and disease control techniques, soil and agronomic practices. The study therefore analyzed the level of farmers awareness of these technologies among farmers in Edo State in order to determine what could have led to the low productivity of rubber in the recent times. The results of the analysis show that the mean age of the respondents was 52 years, dominated by male (96.6). Most of them had no formal education (47.5%), School certificate (42.5%), OND and NCE (7.8%) while HND and Degree (2.3%). The Bi-annual extension visit had the highest score (40.2%), and awareness of Rubber Research Institute of Nigeria (RRIN) Technologies was high with the exception of ˜rubber quality improvement (17.9%), ˜soil and agronomic practices (24.6%) and ˜the use of latex meter technology (29.1%). The study recommended that farmers should be cooperatives, as it had a significant influence on awareness of new technologies and also to assess institutional credit especially from micro-finance banks.