Effect of adoption of sammaz-75t on the livelihood of maize farmers in Zaria Local Government Area, Kaduna State, Nigeria

Abstract

Maize productivity and livelihood outcomes of farmers in Nigeria remain low due to quality of seeds, inadequate farming practices, drought and pests. SAMAZ-75T has been developed to provide higher yields, improved pest resistance and drought tolerance maize variety but the adoption seems is low among farmers due to socio-economic, informational and infrastructural barriers. This study assessed the effect of adopting SAMMAZ-75T on the livelihood of maize farmers in Zaria Local Government Area of Kaduna State due to their prominence in maize production and subsequent adoption of the improved variety. Multistage sampling technique was used to select one hundred and three (103) maize farmers from four villages across two major wards with high maize production intensity. Data were collected using structured questionnaire and was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics, including logistic regression, Pearson correlation, and paired t-tests. Results revealed that the average age of respondents was between 41–50 years, with 98.1% being male and 81.6% married. The mean farm size was 3.13 hectares, and 66.0% of the respondents had access to credit, while 58.3% were members of cooperatives. About 88.3% of the farmers were aware of SAMMAZ-75T, while 58.3% had adopted it. Logistic regression showed that farm size (p = 0.081), cooperative membership (p = 0.090), and credit access (p = 0.096) positively influenced adoption. The adoption of SAMMAZ-75T led to significant improvements in yield increase with a t-value (p<0.001), followed by income (p<0.001) and food security (p<0.001), indicating a strong and statistically significant impact of adoption on farmers’ livelihoods. However, several constraints were identified. The most critical among them were lack of government support (88.3%), poor infrastructure (74.8%), and high cost of improved seeds (73.8%). The study concluded that the adoption of SAMMAZ-75T has economically meaningful positive effect on the livelihoods of maize farmers.