Factors Influencing Adoption of the New Rice for Africa (NERICA) on Production and Post-harvest Technologies by Smallholder Farmers in Selected Chiefdoms in Sierra Leone
Philip Jimia Kamanda
*
Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Sociology, School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, Njala University, Njala Campus, Private Mail Bag, Freetown 47235, Sierra Leone.
Edwin Julius Jeblar Momoh
Ernest Bai Koroma University of Science and Technology, Sierra Leone.
Masa Veronicah Motaung
Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, Faculty of Agribusiness, Education and Extension, Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, (BUAN), Botswana.
Keiwoma Mark Yila
Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute, Njala Agricultural Research Centre, Sierra Leone.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Introducing new and high-yielding varieties of rice like New Rice for Africa (NERICA) to farmers is not a new practice in Sierra Leone, as various improved varieties have been introduced over the years by government and non-governmental agencies. Even with this dissemination of NERICA varieties, the adoption of the NERICA technologies had not made any significant impact in the study areas, which suggests that the majority of the NERICA farmers are still using their traditional rice cultivation methods. The study examined factors influencing the adoption of NERICA rice production and post-harvest technologies by smallholder farmers in the study areas. The data were purposively obtained from 150 smallholder NERICA farmers in both chiefdoms. Ninety and sixty sample farmers were randomly selected from Magbema and Kaiyamba chiefdoms, respectively. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data, analyzed with the aid of percentages and logistic regression. Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the farmers significantly influenced the adoption of recommended NERICA production technologies. For the post-harvest technologies, the R² value of 0.26 suggests that only the socioeconomic characteristics of the farmers significantly influenced the adoption of the recommended NERICA post-harvest technologies. A few demographic characteristics of the respondents include gender, age, marital status, etc., while the socioeconomic characteristics were land ownership, major sources of income, access to fertilisers, etc. The study revealed that the socioeconomic characteristics of smallholder farmers greatly influenced the adoption of recommended NERICA production and post-harvest technologies as compared to their demographic characteristics. Contact with extension agents, promotion of a literacy drive to raise technological awareness among farmers, and timely input delivery to attract and sustain the farmers’ interest to adopt NERICA rice production and post-harvest technologies were recommended.
Keywords: NERICA farmers, NERICA varieties, Northern region, Southern region