FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH THE DISCONTINUANCE OF SOME AGRICULTURAL INNOVATI0NS AMONG FARMERS IN EKITI NORTH OF ONDO STATE, NIGERIA

The focus of this study was to identify factors associated with the discontinuance of some agricultural innovations among farmers in Ekiti North of Ondo State, Nigeria. Special emphases were placed on the: identification of the agricultural innovations introduced to farmers in the study are_a; identification of the innovations which had been adopted and later discontinued by farmers;identification of social and persona! factors which are responsible for the discontinuance of the use of innovations arnong farmers; and analyses of the characteristics of farmers who discontinued the use of the adopted innovations. The study was conducted in five rural communities which were randomly selected out of the thirty-one comrnunities in the area. Structured interview schedule was used to obtain information from one hundred and fifty farrners in the project circle: Thirty farmers were selected in each of the five comrnunities by simple ranclom sampling. Descriptive
statistical techniques such as frequency counts, percentages, mcans, standard deviation and weighted mean score were used to analyse the data. Correlation and regression analyses were used in determining the relationships between the variables investigated in the study.