Utilization of Cocoyam Production Technologies Among Rural Households in South East, Nigeria

Abstract

The paper examined production and utilization of cocoyam among rural households in Southeast, Nigeria.  Purposive and multi-stage random sampling techniques were employed in selecting a sample size of four hundred and eighty (480) respondents from three states. Structured questionnaire was used to collect relevant data from the respondents, while descriptive statistics and ordinary least square (OLS) regression model were employed to analyze the data. Most cocoyam farmers in the zone used cocoyam highly as “Achicha eaten during hunger period’ (x = 3.11), and “Cocoyam Paste used as soup thickener” (x = 3.5).  The results revealed that eighth out of the eleven (11) production technologies disseminated to farmers were highly utilized. They included, “April – May planting time” (x = 4.22), “Use of high yielding planting materials”(x = 3.33), etc  On the other hand, “processing of cocoyam soup thickener” (x = 3.62) was the only value addition technology highly utilized in the zone. The results also indicated that Use of high yielding planting materials (x = 1.86), Treatment of planting materials with relevant agrochemicals (x =4.92), Use of appropriate fertilizer NPK 12:12:17-MgO₂ (x = 4.033) and Cocoyam minisett technology (x =3.29) all had significant relationships with the level of cocoyam produced in the study area. The results  of regression estimate of the influence of farmers socio economic characteristics on traditional patterns of cocoyam utilization in the study area revealed that, sex, educational status, household size, monthly income and access to credit had significant positive relationship with  their utilization of cocoyam production technologies in the study area at <0.5 level of significance. Therefore, the study recommended that relevant government agencies responsible for promoting technologies should organize training for cocoyam farmers on modern best practices for cocoyam utilization.