SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS INFLUENCING MAIZE STORAGE SYSTEMS BY FARMERS IN IZZI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF EBONYI STATE NIGERIA

Abstract

This study analysed the socio-economic factors influencing maize storage by farmers in Izzi Local Government Area, Ebonyi State Nigeria. Multi-stage random sampling technique was used to select the sample size of 96 respondents. Frequency tables, mean scores, and multinomial regression analysis were used to describe and make inferences. The findings revealed that most (32.29%) of the maize farmers were within the age bracket of 30-39 years, and 54.17% of the maize farmers were males. The result on farmers’ level of education showed that most of the farmers (39.58%) had secondary education, marital status was 68.75% married, membership to farm group showed that 55.21% did not belong to any group. The average farm experience of the farmers was 12 years, and the average household size was 5 persons. Most of the farmed chose fireplace for storage of maize.  The result from multi-nominal regression showed that for the choice of maize storage, rooftop was inversely significant to socio economic variables. The study also confirmed that farmers still faced some challenges such as pest attacks, rodent infestation, inadequate finance. Agrochemicals, especially pesticides should be made more accessible by the government to farmers in the study area, to help reduce the incidence of pest attacks on their storage crops; government in partnership with private sectors should increase extension services to farmers on modern maize storage to decrease post-harvest losses.