Impact of agricultural extension services on adoption of root crops technologies in Ondo State, Nigeria

The study investigated the impact of extension services on the adoption of root crop technologies in Akoko North-West Local Government, Ondo State, Nigeria. Data from 90 randomly selected farmers in nine randomly selected villages were used. Findings show that improved cassava varieties, seed yam minisett technique and cassava rapid multiplication had the highest adoption respectively. This was found to be due to financial gain from the technologies. The study shows low adoption of agronomy practices associated with adopted varieties. The extension was the major source of information for the majority of the respondents, with farmers' field day and small plot adoption technique were the most preferred methods of extension contact on root crop technologies. Contact with extension was found to have a significant relationship with the adoption of only a few technologies and did not have significant relationship with the improved level of production of root crops. The study therefore recommended that extension organizations should consider a number of factors other than contact with farmers for farmers' adoption of new technologies. These include the arrangement of follow-up visits to farmers after adoption for further education on the technologies. For effective technology adoption by farmers, the use of facilitative methods such as farmers' field day and small plot adoption technique were recommended. Keywords: accessibility, agricultural information, women farmers South African Journal of Agricultural Extension Vol. 34(2) 2005: 181-18