Global Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

Marginal Effects of Farmers’ Age on Their Irrigation Technology Adoption in Poverty Reduction in Kwara State

Adeniyi, O. A.

This study evaluated the marginal effects of farmers’ age on their irrigation technology adoption in poverty reduction in Kwara State, Nigeria. Farm-level and household-level primary data were obtained with the use of wellstructured questionnaire and interview schedule from 348 respondents, from villages and communities covering a total of five (5) Local Government Areas. Data were subjected to descriptive statistics and instrumental variable of two-stage least square regression model. The household heads who were in their productive age (18-59 years) increased their annual per capita income by 62.5 per cent by their adoption of the irrigation technology. An additional year of schooling increased annual per capita income of household heads in their productive age (18-59 years) by 2.3 per cent. It was concluded that, education is vital to the adoption of irrigation technology, young farmers are more productive than their older counterparts.