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

406Table 1. Socio-economic profiles of participating farmers in the communityseed multiplication project conducted in Taraba and GombeStates in Nigeria.Socio-economic characteristic Taraba Gombe AverageAge of farmers (yrs.) 53 43 44Educational status (% of farmers)Quranic 88 91 86Primary 30 25 28Secondary 20 15 18Tertiary 10 20 16Major occupation: (% of farmers)Farming 75 71 72Trading 23 18 20Civil servant 2 10 8Average plot size for maize seed (ha)*Year 1 0.25 0.25 0.25Year 2 0.65 0.50 0.50Year 3 1.17 0.80 0.98* This is the average for those who participated each year.survey was 2003/2004 agricultural year; that is, the record of thethird year of production.Results and DiscussionFarmers’ socio-economic characteristics and perception of theprojectThe age of the sampled farmers ranged between 30 and 60 yearswith an average of 44 years (Table 1). All the respondents weremarried men; women in the study locations were not fully involvedin farming because of restrictions imposed by their Islamic beliefs. Allrespondents had one form of education or another, with 86% havingat least Quranic education. This relatively high literacy level made iteasier for the project personnel and extension agents to explain anddisseminate the technologies involved in maize seed production tothe farmers. Patterns of livelihood sources showed that 72% of therespondents were farmers while about 20% were traders involved inlivestock marketing, agro-chemicals and butchering. Only 8% werecivil servants.About 57% of the respondents had heard about the projectdirectly from the project personnel and this group was the fi rst batchof farmers to be involved in the project. As the project continuedgradually, other farmers got to know about it from friends, their groupexecutives and extension agents. Results of the survey showed clearlythat the farmers’ level of knowledge about maize seed production