Seizing the Moment and Controlling the Future of Rice Production with Agricultural Transformation Agenda Programme in Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the contribution of Agricultural Transformation Agenda Programme (ATA) on Rice Production in Ondo and Kwara States, Nigeria. A total of 360 respondents were sampled using multi-stage sampling procedure. The study revealed among others that the majority of the respondents were male (60.3%), the mean age of the respondents was 44years. The majority of the respondents (80.0%) were married, 68.1% of the respondents had one form of education or the other. The majority of the respondents have manageable household size of five (5) persons that can assist on the farm. The result showed that Radio and fellow farmers were the major sources of information available to the farmers on ATA programme. Some of the positive perception towards ATA programme are; ATA programme has increased the quantity of my farm product ( =3.7), quality of their product was positively affected ( =3.5) and the programme served as a sure source of good planting materials for them ( =3.5). The result showed that household size, year of farming experience and farm size had a positive and significant effect on rice production in the study areas. This implies that an increase in the farmers’ family will lead to increase in the labour available to cultivate the land and this shows the relationship between increase in farm size and household size. This also implies that there will be meaningful contribution to food security in the country when farming experience, farm size and household size increase at the same pace.