ABSTRACT
The main objective of the study was to determine the
farmers’ perception of Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme in Kogi State. A
total 120 copies of the questionnaires were administered to the schemes’
participants purposely selected from 12 communities of six local government
areas of the State. The local government areas are Lokoja, Kogi, Ajaokuta,
Adavi, Bassa and Dekina. Data was collected on both demographic and farm
characteristics of the respondents. Others areas include respondents’ perceived
perception of the GES scheme effectiveness, knowledge level of respondents,
level of satisfaction on the scheme activities, the constraints to effective
implementation of the scheme and the strategies for effective implementation of
the scheme. Data collected was presented using descriptive statistics, mean
scores, standard deviation, factor analysis and multiple regression models. The
result of the analysis revealed that majority (78.3%) of the respondent were
male and married and the farmers mean age was 42.4years. The mean farming
household size was 5persons with Christian and Muslim religion being mainly
practiced. About 89.2% of the respondents took farming as their major
profession with the mean farming experience as 18.6 years. Majority (85.8%) of
the respondents belong to social or religion organisations and have access to
agriculture-related information. The major crops grown in the area include
maize, cassava and rice. The respondents had a very high knowledge of the
schemes’ activities and the major source of information on the scheme
activities was extension agents. On the farmers’ perception of the GES, a good
number of respondents have positive perception on the schemes’ operational
process and are equally satisfied with some implementation processes of the
scheme. However, the major constraints to effective implementation of the
scheme include untimely input provision, inability to pay for the mobile
phones. Factor analysis also grouped these constraints into inputs, personnel
and poverty-related constraints. The suggested strategies for effective
implementation of the scheme include timely input provision and early
registration of participants. The hypothesis shows that access to agriculture-
related information (t=-2.340:p=0.05) had a significant relationship with rural
farmers’ knowledge. It was recommended
that early inputs provisions is to be ensured since farming operations are time
bound, the farm inputs are to be further subsidised in such a way that everyone
will be able to pay for the subsidized inputs. Other suggestions are the
provision of mobile phones, creation of more redemption centres along with
construction of feeder roads in order to facilitate the effective operations of
the scheme. Lastly, early registration of participants, recruitment of more staff
along with women encouragement for participation is to be ensured.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title page
i
Declaration ii
Certification
iii
Dedication iv
Acknowledgment v
Abstracts
vi
Table of contents vii
List of tables viii
Acronyms
ix
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
Information
1
1.2 Problem
statement
4
1.3 Purpose of
the study
5
1.4
Hypothesis
5
1.5 Significance of
the study
5
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE
REVIEW
7
2.1. Farmers’
perception and participation in agricultural programmes 7
2.2. Concept of
knowledge and its use 10
2.3. Sources of
agricultural information used by farmers 12
2.4. Some
agricultural development interventions in Nigeria and the prevailing
constraints
18
2.5. Strategies
for boosting agricultural production
34
2.6. Conceptual frame work 37
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY 39
3.1 Study
Area
39
3.2 Population
and Sampling Procedure 40
3.3 Instrument
for data collection 41
3.4 Measurements
of variables
41
3.5 Data
Analysis 45
CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 47
4.1.1 The socio
economic characteristics of respondents
47
4.1.2 Institutional
characteristics of the respondents
52
4.2 Farmers
perceived effectiveness of GES scheme
54
4.3.1 Farmers’
knowledge of Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme 56
4.3.2 The farmers’
knowledge level on GES scheme 58
4.4 Sources of
Information on Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme 59
4.5 Farmers
level of satisfaction in the schemes’ implementation Process 60
4.6. Perceived
constraints to effective implementation of GES scheme 62
4.7 Strategies
for effective implementation of the GES scheme
66
4.8 Test of
Hypothesis
68
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 71
5.1 Summary
71
5.2
Conclusion 72
5.3
Recommendation
73
REFERENCES 75
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1:
Population and sampling procedure
41
Table 2:
Percentage distribution of respondents by their socio-economic
characteristics 51
Table 3:
Percentage distribution of respondents according to their Institutional
characteristics
54
Table 4:
Mean and standard deviation of farmers’ perceived effectiveness GES
56
Table 5:
Percentage distribution of respondents knowledge score 58
Table 6:
Farmers knowledge level on GES scheme 59
Table 7:
Percentage distribution of respondents by information sources on
GES
60
Table 8:
Farmers’ level of satisfaction in the implementation of the scheme
62
Table 9:
Mean and standard deviation of perceived constraints to effective
implementation of the scheme
64
Table 10:
Varimax rotated constraints to effective implementation of the GES
scheme
66
Table 11:
Strategies for enhancing the effective Implementation of GES
68
Table12:
Socio-economic and Institutional characteristics influencing Farmers’
GES knowledge
70
LIST OF FIGURE
Figure 1: The
schema for the farmers’ perception of the GES scheme in Kogi State 38
ACRONYMS
USED IN THE STUDY
ADP
Agricultural Development Project
ATA
Agricultural Transformation Agenda
CDD
Community Driven Development
DFRRI
Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure
DFEE
Division of Farmers’ Education Extension
FCAs
Fadama Community Associations
FRUGs
Fadama Resource User Groups
FEAP
Family Economic Advancement Programme
FSS Farm Settlement
Scheme
FCT Federal Capital Territory
FGN
Federal Government of Nigeria
FMRD
Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
FAO Food and Agricultural
Organization
ICTs
Information and communication technologies
IFAD
International Fund for Agricultural Development
IIDC
International Institute for Communication and Development
LDPs
Local Development Plans
LGA
Local Government Area
MARA
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs
NAFPP
National Accelerated Food Production Programme
NALDA
National Agricultural Land Development Authority
NBS
National Bureau of Statistic
NFDP
National Fadama Development Project
NPC
National Population Commission
OFN
Operation Feed the Nation
RBDA River
Basin Development Authority
RDP
Rural Development Project
USDA United States Department of
Agriculture
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
Information
The
Nigerian economy has been strongly dependent on agriculture for many years,
before the discovery of oil in 1956. Agricultural enterprises such as cocoa,
groundnut, oil palm and cotton production accounted for a large chunk of
foreign exchange earnings in Nigeria. The south-western zone of the country was
renowned mainly for its cocoa production and the South East together with
South-South zones were renowned for oil palm production, while the Northern
part of the country was renowned for its groundnut and cotton production.
Nigeria was also one of the largest exporters of oil palm and cocoa until the
discovery of crude oil, which resulted in the partial neglect of the
agricultural sector. Even with the decline in output, the sector has continued
to contribute about 40% to Nigeria’s GDP.(Nigeria Economic Outlook Report
2010-2011 period, in National Bureau of Statistic (NBS), 2012).
Agriculture is
predominantly practised in the rural areas of the country. Most farmers in
those areas could not embark on mechanized agriculture because of the high rate
of poverty that is prevalent in those areas coupled with the land tenure system
still being practised in most places; hence, the need for farmers in rural
areas to have access to farm inputs such as fertilisers in order to ensure that
soil fertility is maintained. Resources required to enhance high agricultural
productivity are the provision of seeds and information on best farming
practice. In view of this, in July 2012 the Federal Government of Nigeria
introduced the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme and this was designed to
deliver government subsidised farm inputs directly to farmers via GSM phones.
The GES scheme, according to Adesina (2012), is powered by e-Wallet, an
electronic distribution channel, which provides an efficient and transparent
system for the purchase and distribution of agricultural inputs based on a
voucher system. The scheme guarantees registered farmers e-Wallet vouchers with
which they can collect fertilisers, seeds and other agricultural inputs from
agro-dealers at half the cost, the other half being borne by the federal
government and state government in equal proportions. As part of the GES
Scheme, the federal ministry of agriculture announced that the ministry would
equip millions of farmers in the rural areas with mobile phones (Adesina,
2013). Adesina (2013) further stressed that the project would link farmers
directly to government and vice-versa so that Government would be able to
monitor the progress of farmers as well as disseminate valuable information to
them.
According to
Cross River State Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources (2012), the GES
scheme is one of the many critical components of the federal government’s
Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA). It was designed for the specific
purpose of providing affordable agricultural inputs like fertilizers and hybrid
seeds to farmers in order to increase yields per hectare and make them
comparable to world standard. GES scheme which is an innovative scheme seeks to
remove the difficulties usually associated with the distribution of fertilizer
and hybrid seeds in the country, as in the past farmers complained of
diversion, exorbitant cost and adulteration of various inputs which had ultimately
led to low productivity, increased poverty, unemployment and lack of interest
in farming.
The scheme,
according to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMRD)
(2012), represents a policy and pragmatic shift within the existing fertilizer
market stabilization programme and puts the resource- constrained farmer at the
centre through the provision of series of incentives to encourage the critical
actors in the fertilizer value chain to work together to improve productivity,
household food security and income of the farmer. According to Federal Ministry
of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMRD) (2012), the goals of GES include
to:
target 5 million farmers in each year for four (4) years
that will receive GES in their mobile
phones directly, totalling 20 million at the end of the 4 years;
provide support directly to farmers to enable them procure
agricultural inputs at affordable prices and at the right time and place,
increase productivity of farmers across the length and breadth
of the country through increased use of fertilizer i.e. 50kg/ha from 13kg/ha;
and
change the role of Government from direct procurement and
distribution of fertilizer to a facilitator of procurement, regulator of
fertilizer quality and catalyst of active private sector participation in the fertilizer value chain.
The
scheme’s approach is to target beneficiaries through the use of electronic
system, and by encouraging the engagement of the private sector in the
distribution and delivery of fertilizers and other critical inputs directly to
farmers. The objectives of the GES scheme include to : (a) provide affordable
agricultural inputs like fertilizer, hybrid seeds and agro-chemicals to
farmers; (b) remove the usual complexities associated with fertilizer
distribution; (c) encourage critical actors in the fertilizer value chain to
work together to improve productivity; (d) enhance farmers’ income and promote
food security; and (e) shifting the provision of subsidized fertilizer away
from a general public to only identified genuine small holder farmers (FMARD, 2012).
In various states of the country, the programme commenced in
July 2012 after the farmers were sensitized and registered prior to the
commencement of the scheme. Thirty five states of the country had already keyed
into the programme for implementation except Zamfara had already keyed into the
programme with various farm inputs being redeemed to registered farmers at
designated redemption centres (FMARD, 2013).