Onyemechi C. Aniedu
Improved yam production technologies developed by National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike have been disseminated to farmers in the south eastern agro-ecological zone of Nigeria. This study was designed to investigate the adoption of the improved yam production technologies by farmers in Abia State during the 2012/2013 cropping season. Mean age of yam farmers’ was 48.5years,mean farm size was 1.9hectares, mean years of experience in yam farming was 22.4years, mean number of household available for yam production was 5.1, while the mean annual income of yam farmers’ in the study area was N75,800.00. Adoption rate of the improved yam production technologies in Abia State was 37.1%. Multiple regression analysis showed farm size, family labour available and frequency of attendance to farmers meeting to be positively and significantly associated with adoption. In contrast, no clear cut relationship was found to exist between adoption and such factors as age, education, gender, farming experience, income and frequency of extension visits/contacts. The coefficient of determination was 0.786 indicating that the independent variables could explain 78.6% of the variability in adoption of improved yam production technologies. The F-ratio was 17.971 and significant at 1% which indicates goodness of fit of the regression line.
