Determinants of Adoption of Vetiver Grass Strips Technology (VGT) In Southeast Nigeria

Abstract

Abia State faces a severe erosion problem that affects agricultural production which may lead to poverty of crop farmers. The use of vetiver grass strips technology (VGT) helps control soil erosion. However, there is a dearth of information on the determinants of adoption of VGT in Abia and therefore was investigated. Random sampling technique in 4 stages was adopted for this study. The ADP zones (Aba, Umuahia, and Ohafia) in the state were considered, 13 blocks were selected from the 38 blocks in the state. 30 cells out of 93 cells in the selected blocks were randomly selected. 250 farming households were randomly selected proportionate to size of the cells. Data on socio-economic characteristics of the farmers, awareness and adoption of VGT, quantity of inputs and outputs of crops, expenditure on food and non-food items were collected using a structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, adoption index and probit regression at α_0.05. Respondents mean age was 48 years and 51.2% were male farmers. The household size and farm-size were 6.0 members and 2.0 ha, respectively. About 36% of them had tertiary education, while 59.2% were aware of VGT but 49.6% adopted it. 53.2% of the female were adopters with farm size of 1.57 ha and 42.7% had tertiary education. A unit increase in age, level of education and being a female increased the probability of adoption of VGT by 0.3169, 0.3078 and 0.2097 respectively, while a unit increase in farm-size reduced the probability of adoption by 0.0824 unit.