Competitive African Rice Initiative: perceptions, utilisation and effectiveness of its practise among rice farmers in Kebbi State, Nigeria

Agricultural extension service in Nigeria is largely public sector driven. Unfortunately, the sector is not operating at its maximum largely due to weak institutional structure and poor extension to farmers’ ratio. As such, smallholder farmers often suffer low productivity and poor product quality. The study therefore examined the perceptions, utilisation and effectiveness of the Competitive African Rice Initiative (CARI) extension practise in Kebbi State, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 120 rice farmers enrolled under the initiative in the study area. The data collected were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study revealed that the average age of the respondents was 47.8 ± 1.72 years, 76.7% were male and married (73.1%). The study further revealed that the respondents were smallholder farmers (5.6 ± 7.22 acres). Respondent’s perception of CARI was favourable at 72.5% (36 ± 2.8), Rice Advice (x̄ = 1.32) ranked highest at the CARI tool utilised most, while the deployment of CARI extension practise was effective 65.8% (48 ± 3.4). There was a significant association between marital status (χ² = 3.242, p = 0.023), utilisation of CARI tools, and effectiveness of CARI in extension practise (r = 0.206, p = 0.001). The study recommends sustained capacity building for enrollees of the initiative to enhance utilisation and ensure optimum effectiveness.