ABSTRACT

The study was designed to assess factors influencing farmers‟ attitude and participation in CBARDP in Selected Local Government Areas of Kaduna State.Two Local Government Areas (L.G.A.s) were purposively selected and three villages from each of the L.G.A.s were randomly selected. Fifteen percent of the participants were then randomly selected using lottery method to obtain a sample size of 189 respondents. Data was collected through the use of a structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics, multiple regression analysis and paired t-test.The results showed that majority (94%) of the participants were male. About 34% of the participants were of the age range of 41-50 years, 86% were married with 54% having a household size range of 1-5persons and 50% having no formal education. The attitude of the participants towards CBARDP was positive and their participation was moderate. The significant factors that influenced the attitude of the farmers towards CBARDP were education, extension contact, access to credit and marital status while age, education, extension contact, membership of associations and access to credit were positively and significantly influential on farmers‟ participation in CBARDP. The estimated average annual yield increased from 1340.04kg/ha before the participation to 2087.25kg/ha after the participation. The average annual income also increased from ₦111,459 before the participation to ₦193,903.70 after participation. The study was anticipated to give a picture of the success and constraints of the programme and also provide measures for areas of improvement. It was recommended that a similar programme should be organized in all theLocal Government areas of the state by Government and non-governmental agencies so as to improve farmers‟ welfare and level of living.

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background to the Study

The Nigerian rural sector with abundance of human and natural resources

accommodates 49.7 % of the nation‟s population (World Bank, 2011).    It is also

estimated that 85% of the extremely poor people in Nigeria currently live in rural areas

(World Bank, 2011). The low performance of agricultural sector in rural areas does not

only threaten their livelihood but also affects the production capacity of the natural

resource base, accelerates environmental degradationand fails to address poverty and

malnutrition (Ashley and Maxwell 2011).In order to enhance the performance of

agricultural sector, government in Nigeria has introduced several programmes that

include    Community-Based    Agricultural    and    Rural     Development    Programme

(CBARDP).

Attitude and participation are two important issues in CBARDP and other agricultural

development programmes. They are critical for successful and accepted programmes

because they facilitate development plans.The attitude of the people determine whether

the expected outcome in a development process will be favourable or unfavourable.

Change in attitude has to do with other personality characteristics such as susceptibility

to persuasion, intelligence and readiness to accept change. People are always adopting,

modifying, and relinquishing their attitude to fit their ever changing needs and interests.

Change in people‟s attitude depends on who is presenting the knowledge, how it is

presented, the credibility of the communicator and the condition by which the

knowledge was received (Hallorah, 1967).The employment of more qualified and

experienced extension workers,especially subject matter specialists and the adoption of

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farmer first approach to agricultural research and development have therefore been