Factors Influencing Arable Crop Farmers’ Willingness to Adopt Bio-Organic Technology in Ondo State, Nigeria

Abstract

The adoption of organic agriculture among arable farmers is still low despite the economic and environmental benefits the technology offers.The study investigated factors influencing willingness to adopt bio-organic technology by arable farmers in Ondo State. It specifically examined farmers’ perception on the use of bio-organic technology, assess the level of awareness of arable farmers on bio-organic technology and analyze the factors influencing farmers’ willingness to adopt the use of bio-organic technology.  Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 180 respondents for this study. Interview schedule was used to collect data which were analysed with descriptive statistics and logit regression model. Findings revealed that 48.0%, 33.0% and 19.0% of the farmers had poor, moderate and adequate awareness of bio-organic technology, respectively. The levels of perception of the farmers on the use of bio-organic technology was generally low (perception on organic manure 62.0%, perception on profitability 65.0% and perception on environmental degradation 65.0%)  . The study shows that increase in extension visit, membership of farmers’ group, access to information and education positively increase the likelihood of farmers to adopt bio-organic technology. The study recommends an enhanced extension services that would adequately support farmer and extended education programs geared towards broadening farmers’ knowledge on bio-organic technology. Keywords: willingness, adoption, bio-organic technology, arable farmer