Abstract

Adoption rates of introduced banana/plantain cultivars are often low compared to their economic importance. This study investigated banana/plantain varietal preference among farmers in Ilesha, Osun State, Nigeria. A total of 150 banana/plantain farmers were sampled using snowballing technique to select 150 respondents. Data collected were analysed with both descriptive and inferential statistics. The mean age of the farmers was 41.8. Findings showed that majority of the respondents cultivated Alabameji (82.7%), Agbagba ohun (82.7%) and PITA 17 (63.3%). PITA 17 (x?=2.09) ranked first as improved variety cultivated while Ijeshaloba and Asogba (x?=2.39) ranked first as local varieties cultivated. The aggregated score showed that local varieties (x?=2.22) were most preferred by farmers. Findings on farmers’ preference criteria showed that high market value (x?=3.75) ranked first, bunch length (x?=3.74) ranked second and results on constraints facing the banana/plantain plantation of preferred varieties indicated that incidence of pest and diseases (x?=3.74) ranked first. Hypothesis testing showed that education (?=-0.199, p<0.05); age (?=-2.436, p<0.05), education (?= 0.143, p<0.05), and farm-size (?= 0.236, p<0.01) influenced their preferences for local and improved banana/plantain varieties respectively. The study concluded the farmers in the study area had higher preference for local varieties of banana/plantain due to high market value and bunch length. Varieties mainly preferred were Ijeshaloba, Asogba, Agbagba ohun and PITA 17. Thus, agricultural research institutions concerned with genetic breeding should focus on developing varieties with higher attributes for bunch length, and number of fingers per bunch to boost farmers’ prospect for high market value for banana/plantain produce.

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