Abstract

This study examined levels of adoption of upland NERICA technologies in Southwestern Nigeria. A four-stage sampling procedure was used to select three states (Ekiti, Ogun and Ondo states) and four hundred and forty-four (444) rice farmers used in this study. A structured interview schedule was used to collect data on personal and enterprise characteristics, and adoption stages. Data were analysed using frequency, percentages, mean, and correlation at 0.05 significance level. The result revealed that the mean age was 49.60years with majority (82.20%) being male and 63.50% of the growers cultivated 0.40-1.59 ha with mean yield of 0.60 t/ha and N231,295.38?182,372.02 revenue. Adoption level of upland NERICA technologies was low (56.3%) in the study area. The upland NERICA seed technology was at the trial stages of adoption. Level of adoption was significantly influenced by farm income (r=0.40; p? 0.05) and farming experience (r=0.02; p? 0.05). Adoption of NERICA was inadequate. The study recommended that government should provide modern communication infrastructure and build capacity of extension agents to deliver specific information at different adoption stages to farmers in order to upscale rice production.

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