Journal of Agricultural Science; Vol. 4, No. 6; 2012 ISSN 1916-9752 E-ISSN 1916-9760 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education 215 Socio-economic Determinants of the Adoption of Yam Minisett Technology in the Middle Belt Region of Nigeria Josephine Bosede Ayoola Institute of Food Security, University of Agriculture P.M.B. 2373, Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria Tel: 234-816-494-7389 E-mail: gbayoola@yahoo.com Received: February 16, 2012 Accepted: February 29, 2012 Online Published: April 26, 2012 doi:10.5539/jas.v4n6p215 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/jas.v4n6p215 Abstract The paper assessed the socio-economic determinants of adoption of yam minisett technology in the middle belt region of Nigeria; where 120 farmers were sampled through multi-stage random technique from six villages in two Local Government Areas of Kogi and Benue States. Data collected by structured interview were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency counts, percentages and means; and probit regression model. Results showed that 98.33 percent of farmers were aware of the technology while only 9.32 percent adopted the technology. The probit analysis indicated that age of the farmers, farm size, years of farming experience, amount of credit available and frequency of extension contacts were positively related to adoption and would probably increase adoption of the improved yam minisett technology. There is need to increase availability of credit, fertilizers and yam minisett dust, as well as improve extension services in the study area. Keywords: Yam minisett technology, Adoption, Determinants, Middle belt, Nigeria 1. Introduction Nigeria is said to be the greatest producer of yam in the world with annual output of about 36.72million metric tonnes (Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, 2008), which is grown mostly in the rainforest, wood savanna and southern savanna belt (Ene and Okoli, 1995). Yam is a preferred food security crop in most Sub-Saharan African countries (International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, IITA, 1998), an important source of income to the people and a socio-cultural crop in Nigeria (Babaleye, 2003). Yam is also an export crop in West Africa and Caribbean countries to Europe and North America (Onwueme, 1998). However, Kushwaha and Polycap (2001) reported that yam is becoming expensive in urban areas because its production has not kept pace with population growth. A fall in output percentage growth rate of yam from 42percent in 1990 to 16.3percent was reported in 2001, despite the increase in land devoted for the production of yam from 1270 million hectare to 2742 million hectares in the same period (Federal Ministry of Agriculture, FMA 2003). The cost of producing yam was also reported as being higher compared to other root crops in the country (Chikwendu et al., 1999). High cost and scarcity of seed yam were identified as major threats to yam production; reports indicating that farmers have to set aside as much as 30 percent of the harvest as planting material, and that planting material constitutes over 33- 40 percent of the cost of yam production (Iwueke et al., 1995; Madueke et al., 2000; Welch, 2005). This inhibits the size of yam farm under traditional cropping system; and constitutes the basis for introducing yam minisett technology. Among the three existing types of seed yam namely: yam minisett, milked seed yam and small whole tubers; yam minisett technique was assessed as the most promising method of seed yam in Nigeria (Asumugha et al., 2007; Okoro and Kalu, 1999). After two decades of introducing the yam minisett technology, Madueke et al. (2000) observed that its use has not been sustained by the farmers, even though seed yam is still a major constraint to yam production. Perhaps, inefficiency in the transfer of the yam minisett technology is responsible for its low level usage. The questions that come to mind are whether the technology is sufficiently profitable to provide the incentive for its adoption, and what socio-economic factors affect its adoption in the study area. Therefore, the general objective of the study was to assess the socioeconomic determinants of yam minisett technology adoption in the middle belt region of Nigeria. The specific objectives were to: describe the socio-economic characteristics of yam farmers and evaluate their influence on yam minisett technology adoption, assess the extent to which farmers use the