Socio-economic Analysis and Adoption of Improved Maize (Zea mays L.) Varieties by Farmers in the North West Region of Cameroon

Abstract

This study was carried out during April -September 2013 in the North West Region of Cameroon on the socio-economic analysis and adoption of improved maize varieties (IMVs).One hundred and forty farmers were administered semi-structured questionnaires and the data were analysed using SPSS. Socio-economic analysis showed that majority of the sample size were female (50.70%), aged below 50 with an average of nine members per household. Majority of the respondents were Christians (82.60%) and had formal education with access to extension services (72.70%). Most of the farmers depended on household generated income mainly from farm activities. Most of the farm sizes were below 2ha indicating low scale production and low capacity to obtain loans. In the study area, maize was allocated over 60.00% of the farm lands. The level of adoption was found to be 74.30%, with 25.70% of the farmers cultivating both IMVs and local ones. Three IMVs were identified - Coca white, Kasai and ATP with the latter being the most widely cultivated. Chi Square test was used to analyze the determining factor of adoption of IMVs. Gender, level of education, access to extension services, access to credit/loans and possession of off-farm income were found to be the determinants meanwhile the other factors were not. The t-test was used to analyze the four pillars of food security as concerns produced maize in adopter and non-adopter households. The analysis showed that there was a significant difference between the level of yields and quantity sold. This study concluded that adopting improved maize seeds is beneficial to the farmers.