ABSTRACT

The study examined the impact of the adoption of early maize technology on productivity and food security status of farmers in Gwagwalada and Kuje area council of FCT Abuja. The study examined the rate of adoption of early maize varieties, determine the economic efficiency of the farmers that adopted early maize varieties in the study area, determine the factors that influence adoption of early maize varieties, determine the impact of adoption of early maize varieties on income and food security of farmers in the study area and identify the problems faced by farmers in the study area. Primary data were used for the study. A multi-stage sampling technique was employed in the selection of respondent for the study. The primary data were obtained using structured questionnaires administered to 269 farmers. Descriptive statistics, adoption index, stochastic frontier model, logit regression model, t-test, food security line were used for the analysis of data. The result showed that DMR-ESR Y CIF2, AC 90 POOL 16DT STR, TZE-W DT STR C4, ACR 95 TZE COMP4 C3, TZE-WDT STR QPM C0 and ACR 90POOL 16 DT STR were the early maize varieties planted in the study area. DMR-ESR Y CIF2 was identified as the variety adopted by a larger proportion (21%). The major drivers of adoption in the study area were found to be farming experience, education, marital status, membership of cooperative societies, household income and extension contact. 11% of the farming household that adopted early maize varieties fall within the highest annual income range of above N599,000 with 18% for non adopters. 10% of the adopters are within the lowest income range of less than N100,000. The mean annual income of adopters was N412,720 and that of non-adopters was N276,844 which implies that adopters of early maize varieties realized higher income than the non-adopters of the varieties. 79% of adopters with an average daily per capita household calorie consumption of 3606.30kcal were food secure while 44% of non-adopters were food secured.                                                                                                 Adequate policy measures should be put in place to fast track seed multiplication and distribution and on-farm trials through effective extension service delivery so as to intensify and sustain the adoption of early maize varieties.

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background to the study

Agriculture in Nigeria is increasingly recognized to be central to sustained growth and

improved economic development. Agriculture plays a significant role in food security,

poverty alleviation and human development (Amaza and Maurice, 2005). Food security

became a catch-phrase in the mid 1990s (Okezie and Okorie, 2009). The concept of

food security has evolved, developed, multiplied and diversified since the World Food

Conference in the 70s (Maxwell and Smith, 1992; Maxwell, 1996). Its main focus has

shifted from global and national to household and individual food security and from

food availability to food accessibility. It can be defined as the success of the local

livelihood to guarantee access to sufficient food at the household level (Devereaux and

Maxwell, 2001).

The failure of early solutions to food insecurity in the 1970s and 1980s was largely

attributed to their technological bias, stressing production rather than equitable

distribution, access, affordability and utilization of improved varieties of crops. Since

then, it has become clear that food security revolves around complex issues that

encompass a wide range of interrelated environmental, economic, social and political

factors. An approach encompassing improve varieties of seed is required in addressing

food security and lack of which pose serious challenge to many regions in their ability

to address food security adequately (Vogel and Smith, 2002: Clover, 2003). Individuals

have sufficient access to food when they have adequate incomes or other resources to

purchase or barter to obtain levels of appropriate foods needed to maintain consumption

of an adequate diet/nutrition level (United States Agency for International Development

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(USAID), 1992). Food access depends on the ability of households to obtain food from

current production, purchases, gathering, or through food transfers from relatives,

members of the community, the government or donors. The distribution of food is an

important determinant of food security for all household members. Food access is also

influenced by the aggregate availability of food in the market, market prices, productive

inputs, and credit (USAID, 1992).

Maize is a crop of great economic importance in Nigeria. Maize is a cereal crop grown

for food, feed and industrial uses and it is the second most common cereal food crop

after rice (Akande, 1994). Maize is widely cultivated throughout the world, and a

greater amount of maize is produced each year than any other grain, in Nigeria it is

produced largely in the Northern Guinea Savannah. There are several domestic markets

for maize all over Nigeria and maize also filters into international markets such as

Niger, Chad, Mali, Benin Republic and some other countries in the West African Sub

region (Iken and Amusa, 2004). Maize is widely consumed as a stable food by poor

rural and urban households: providing carbohydrate, vitamins, and relatively small

amount of protein to human beings and livestock as well. Maize will continue to play a

large and important role in Nigeria‟s food production (USAID, 2010). The total land

planted to maize in Nigeria is above 2.5 million hectares with an estimated yield of

about 1.4 metric tonnes per hectare (Agbonika, 2013). It is recorded that about 1000

metric tonnes of maize is produced in Abuja (GAC, FCT, 2004).

Adoption of maize production technologies has received much attention in recent years

because of increase in demand for maize. Several varieties have been introduced that

give high yield and resistance to diseases. Oladele (2005) opined that the efficiency of

technologies generated and disseminated depend on t