Table 12: Distribution of farmers by extension contact and membership of association

platforms and this will facilitate quicker understanding of the innovations being disseminated to these farmers.

Also, figure 3 presents the participation of these farmers in demonstration plots and from the figure, it was quite clear that over 60% of these farmers have participated in demonstration plots which it is believed will accelerate understanding of technologies being disseminated to these farmers.

Table 12: Distribution of farmers by extension contact and membership of association

Variables

Participation in innovation platform Yes No Participation in demonstration plot Yes No Participation in farmers’ field day Yes No Figures in parentheses are percentages

Crops Cassava Sorghum Rice

36(60) 26(32.5) 30.0(37.5) 24(40) 54(67.5) 22.5(28.12)

33(55) 72(90) 56(70) 27(45) 18(22.5) 28(35)

49(51.67) 49(61.25) 72(90) 31(48.33) 31(38.75) 8(10)

Figure 2: Crops farmers' participation in innovation platforms under the project

Figure 3: Crop Farmer's participation in demonstration plot

5.1.13 Credit information for the last cropping season Credit is very important in all production process because it is needed to procure inputs, hire labour, carry out the marketing process and to even process the raw produce from farms to intermediate and final products that are desired by the ultimate consumers. From table 13, it was found that majority of farmers under the ATAPS-1 project claimed they had no access to credit. From the table, about 62% of the cassava participants claimed they had no access to credit, about 53% of sorghum participants claimed they had no access to credit while about 61% of rice participants claimed they had no access to credit. These farmers may continue to remain small holders since they have no access to credit for production process.

Table 13 also talked about the sources of credit available to these farmers and from the table, these farmers obtain credit from commercial banks, cooperatives, agricultural bank, traders, NGOs and family and friends. The problem with the non institutional lenders is that their interest rates could be a times too exorbitant.

Looking at table 13 again, it was discovered that credit obtained by farmers were less than what they required. The average credit required by cassava farmers was N72, 583.33 while the corresponding average credit obtained was N53, 200.00. On the other hand, the average credit required by sorghum farmers was N151, 772.40 while the corresponding credit received by sorghum farmer was N71, 253.29. On a final note, the average credit required by rice farmer was N88, 170.73 while the corresponding average received was N46, 668.75. It is very clear from the quantum of credit required that these farmers are small holder producers.

On the nature of credit, from the table it is very clear that farmers usually preferred cash and most of the credits given to farmers were cash.Figure 4 presents farmers access to credit in a graphical way for better understanding. It is quite clear from the figure that less than 50% of farmers across all the crops and zones have access to credit. This is not really good enough as lack of access to credit will hamper adoption of technology and consequently productivity of these farmers.