Abstract

Rural farmers in Yagba East Local Government Area of Kogi State, Nigeria, have no easy access to loan from commercial banks but engage in non-farm activities to generate income which can be used to supplement fund needs for their farming operations. This study investigated how farmers explore and utilize income from non-farm activities for agricultural technology adoption. Multistage sampling was used to select 108 respondents from the study area. Structured questionnaire was administered to collect data. Descriptive statistics was employed to analyse the data generated. Results indicated that 41.7% of the respondents were within the economically productive age group (31 45 years) and about 88 percent had farm size of between 0.1 to 2 hectares. The most common non-farm activities were small scale cottage industries mostly for processing of farm produce (29.6%). The aggregate income generated was highest (N3,250,000) among those who engaged in the cottage industries. Average income was highest (N915,450) among the petroleum product marketers. Out of the total aggregate of N12,981,419 generated annually, 28.6% was devoted to the purchase of agricultural technologies. Proportion spent on the purchase of fertilizer (27.0%) top the list. This study recommends that both government and non governmental organizations should engage in capacity building and dissemination of current findings on the identified non- farm activities to enhance better output and increase in income that can be used to enhance agricultural technology adoption.

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