Demand-Driven Technologies for Sustainable Maize ... - IITA

342ZamfaraStateKatsinaStateFigure 1: Map of Nigeria Showing study areasintegrated, specifi c visually measurable scales that could guide theirapplication are not yet fully developed.In the present study, we used spatial distribution of maize farmplots and crop enterprise combinations to delineate the pattern ofadoption of maize at four locations in the Sudan savanna ecologywhere maize cultivation is a recent phenomenon. The objective was todevelop simple visual tools for monitoring the extent of maize varietyadoption in the ecological zone.MethodologyStudy areaThis study was conducted within the Sudan savanna ecology of twoStates in Nigeria (Lat 12’0-13.2 0 N and Long 4 0 30’ -8 0 20’E) (Figure1). Detailed description of the culture, characteristics of farmers, maizepotential and production constraints have been reported for KatsinaState (Onyibe et al. 2003a & b) and are similar to those of ZamfaraState. The study was conducted at four locations: Shaiskawa and Baudein Katsina State, Banigahannu and Zurmi in Zamfara State. In 1999,under a WECAMAN-supported maize promotion project, extra–earlymaize varieties were introduced to farmer groups in the four locations.The groups were organized, registered and trained by the Project.The four communities share several commonalities including culture,lifestyle and key production practices. However the main differenceamong the communities is that maize was introduced to the women’sgroups at Baude, while men’s groups were the recipients of projectintervention at the other three locations.