Evaluating the factors influencing the adoption of improved cassava varieties among smallholder farmers in Kasese District

Abstract

The study evaluated the factors influencing the adoption of improved cassava varieties among smallholder farmers in Maliba Sub County Kasese District. The literatures reviewed indicated that the adoption rate of improved cassava varieties has remained low among small holder farmers including those in vulnerable areas where need for production enhancement is required(Nakabonge et al., 2018).The Specific objectives of the study were; to assess the awareness and knowledge levels about improved cassava varieties, to analyse the socioeconomic factors influencing the adoption of improved cassava varieties among smallholder farmers ; to examine the accessibility of improved cassava planting materials and support services and to investigate the perceived benefits and challenges associated with adoptionof improved cassava varieties among smallholder farmers in Maliba Subcounty. A cross-sectional survey design was used, throughout the course of the study, direct face-to-face interactions, primarily in form of interviews and structured questionnaires were used. A representative sample of 99 respondents comprised of farmers, opinion leaders and extension workers were considered. The empirical data was analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively to obtain the findings. Testing at 95% confidence interval while analyzing whether there is a significant relationship between the level of awareness and adoption, a P-value of 0.014 less than 0.05 hence significant showed that there’sa relationship between awareness on improved cassava varieties and adoption. The findings indicated that there is significant relationship between education level and decision made for cassava to form significant part of the farming activities with P-value of 0.017 less than 0.05 hence significant and correlation coefficient of 0.252 (25.2%). Implying that an increase in the level of education will significantly lead to 25.2% in influencing the farmers’ decision to adopt the use of improved cassava varieties.During the study, majority 44.9% of the respondents accepted that access to improved cassava varieties is important towards influencing their decision onadoption. Among the challenges, lack of access to improved cassava planting materials, followed by lack of support and trainings by both government and other entities and then knowledge gap on improved cassava varieties came out strongly among the challenges affecting adoption. The study finally came out with the following recommendations: Having community facilitators to train farmers at both parish and village levels on how to plant, access and manage improved varieties, setting up demonstration centers at subcounty, parish and village levels for easy access to planting materials and government to allocate resources to ensure enough supplies of new cassava varieties to the farmers as ways to minimize the highlighted challenges. The researcher suggests further research to focus performance (In terms of maturity period) of improved cassava varieties according to different geographical setup especially lower and higher altitude areas.