ADSU International Journal of Applied Economics, Finance and Management

Effects of Farmer Field School Approach on Rural Crop Farmers in Adamawa State, Nigeria

Abstract

The research assessed the effect of famer- field school extension approach on rural crop farmers in conflict-affected communities in Adamawa State, Nigeria. The study used multi-stage, purposive and random sampling to select five Local Government Areas (LGAs), three communities and 150 beneficiaries for the study. A similar procedure was also used to select 150 non-beneficiaries to serve as a control group. Descriptive statistics, average treatment effect (ATE) and statistical test (t-test) were employed for the data analysis. Findings revealed that all the technologies introduced recorded over 50% adoption except for seed germination test, disease control and ploughing. A total of 91.3% adopted land selection and 80.7% adopted seed selection, while only 30.0% adopted seed germination test. The findings also revealed that increases in farm size, output, and income were significant at P <0.05 among the beneficiaries compared to non-beneficiaries. Also, the beneficiaries had significant improvement in consumption expenditure and social cohesion at P <0.05 compared to the non-beneficiaries. In conclusion, participation in FFS has achieved a significantly positive effect on the livelihood of rural crop farmers in the study area. It is recommended that considering the huge impact of the approach on the beneficiaries within a short period of time, the programme should be extended to other LGAs in the state for wider coverage of the benefits.