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

347Insurance againstcrop failure 20%Relative pricesof food grains 25%Availabilty of fertilizer 18%Number ofextension visits 16%Need for fooddiversification 16%Figure 2: Factors determining number of crops in amaize-based enterprisemaize intercropped with cotton, cowpea and groundnut and a lowinterest in intercropping maize with traditional cereals of the zone(sorghum and millet). This is probably because maize has beendisplacing other cereal crops in the zone.Thus in this ecology, maize is cultivated in similar manner tosorghum or millet; that is, by intercropping with non-cereal crops. Inyears when maize grain price is favorably high and fertilizer prices arefair, the farmers readily plant larger land areas to maize in preferenceto sorghum in their enterprises. But farmers revert partially to theirtraditional crops when maize price falls and/or fertilizer price is veryhigh. Some of the factors that determine the number of crops in maizebasedenterprises as indicated by the farmers involved in the survey(Fig. 2) included the relative prices of food grains (25% ), insuranceagainst crop failure due to pests (20%), availability (cost) of fertilizer(18%), need for diversifi cation of food (16%) and the number of visitsby EAs (16%).Contrary to previous fi ndings of Gbadegesin et al. (2002), theneed for food diversity and reduction in pest pressure were foundto be less important in the determination of numbers of crops inenterprise combinations by the respondents. This indicates farmer’sgrowing sensitivity to economic benefi ts when taking decisions abouttheir crop production enterprises.The results also showed that EAs signifi cantly infl uenced how andwhat the farmers produced. What is not clear, however, is how the