Determinants of Farmer Participation in the E-Wallet Agricultural Input Delivery System in Abia State, Nigeria

Abstract The Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GESS ) was designed to provide a more efficient system of delivering inputs to farmers, powered through the E-Wallet scheme. The effectiveness of the Scheme would be influenced by how well farmers respond to it. The factors that affect their participation are, therefore, worth investigating. The study was, therefore, conducted to determine the factors influencing farmers’ participation in the Scheme in Abia State, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select a sample of 162 farmers, who are participating in the E-wallet scheme. In the first stage, the State was divided into the three Extension Zones of the State. In the second stage, 2 blocks were selected each from each of the three Zones, giving a total of 6 blocks out of 54 blocks. In the third stage, 3 sub-circles were selected from each block, giving a total of 18 sub-circles. In the fourth stage, 9 farmers were selected from each sub-circle, giving a total of 162 farmers as the sample size. Data for the study were collected through the use of a structured questionnaire. The null hypothesis was tested using inferential statistic (Ordinary Least of Squares model of regression analysis). The study found a significant influence of the selected socio-economic factors on farmers’ participation in the E-wallet Scheme as seven out of the eleven factors were significant at 1 & 5% level. The factors included: sex, marital status, E-wallet experience, farm size, farming as main occupation, yield, co-operative membership; while age, income, education and farming experience were not significant. The null hypothesis which stated that the selected socio-economic factors do not significantly influence participation of farmers in E-wallet was, therefore, rejected, while the alternative hypothesis was accepted at 95% confidence level. The study concluded that the Scheme was achieving its goal of improving farmers’ yield since the influence of yield and previous participation in the Scheme were very significant at 1%. The study recommended among others, more publicity of the Scheme and registration of more farmers into the scheme because it is leading to increase in farmers’ yield, which in turn help in achieving food security.