Determinant of Factors Influencing the Participation of Smallholder Rice Farmers under Anchor Borrowers Programme in Kaduna State, Nigeria
Keywords:
Participation, Kaduna State, Programme, Factors, Rice FarmersAbstract
This study assessed the determinant of factors influencing the participation of smallholder rice farmers under Anchor Borrowers’ Programme in Kaduna State, Nigeria. The study described the socioeconomic characteristics of the rice farmers; determined the level of farmers’ participation under the programme and also determined the socio-economic and institutional factors influencing the level of participation of farmers under the Programme. Primary data was collected from 405 Participants and 405 Non- participants. The respondents were sampled through a multistage procedure using a structured questionnaire. Descriptive and Tobit regression model were used to analyze the data. The results showed that majority (95.31%) of the participants were married, while male respondents were 88.59% with a mean age of 43 years and the farmers had one form of education or the other. Majority of the farmers had a fairly large household size. The result further revealed that majority of the farmers (49.75%) had high participation in ABP activities. Socioeconomic and institutional variables like age, educational level, farming experience, access to credit and extension contact were found to influence farmers’ participation in ABP activities. The study concluded that the coefficients obtained for age, education, farming experience, access to credit and extension contact were significant and had a positive relationship with the dependent variables. Therefore, it was recommended that implementation of any development programme and interventions should always consider farmers’ specific characteristics in order to ensure adequate participation and realization of programme objectives.