Assessment of Rice Farmers’ Perception on WACOT Out-grower Scheme in Kebbi State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study was conducted in Kebbi State. The objectives were to describe the socioeconomic characteristics of rice farmers who participated in West African Cotton Company (WACOT) (WACOT) out-growers scheme in Kebbi State and assess the rice farmers’ perception small holder rice farmers on WACOT out-grower scheme. A two-stage sampling technique was used to select respondents for this study. The first stage involved a purposive selection of all the four out-grower Local Government Areas in Kebbi State which are Suru, Augie, Argungu and Kamba LGAs. Each out-grower LGA had 1,500 out-grower rice farmers. Lastly, a sample frame of six thousand (6,000) out-grower rice farmers was collected from WACOT rice for the four LGAs. Finally, Raosoft method was used to calculate the sample size. This was calculated to be 362. Primary data were collected through the use of questionnaire which were administered to respondents by the researcher and trained enumerators. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze data collected. The results revealed that most (94%) of the respondents were males, 34% of the respondents were between the ages of 41-50, most (89%) of them were married, majority (64%) of the respondents had household size of 1-10, most (96%) of the respondents had less than 10 years of rice farming experience, 40.3% of the respondents had less than 5ha of farm size, and about a half (53%) of the respondents had Adult education. It was found that the respondents’ body agreed with all the positive statements against WACOT and disagreed with the negative statements. It was concluded that rice farming activities are dominated middle aged, male farmers in the area, with the majority having a household size of 1-10. Rice farmers had a positive perception and attitude on WACOT out-grower scheme. Hence, recommended that more female farmers should be engaged in the WACOT out-growers schemes by the stakeholders so as to bridge the difference between male and female rice farmers’ participation in the WACOT out-growers scheme.