Economics of cocoyam production by small-holder farmers in ihite/uboma local government area of Imo state, Nigeria

study arase from the need for fi.:trthe.t:' invest:igat:1.o·n into the econom:ics of cocoyqm production, i tf:'. pro fi tability, 1~ate of adoption of improved technologies and problem.s of growing the crop bearing in mind its place in the study area as a staple food, source of income and planting materi.aL, six communi ties and .siKi;y respondents were randomly selectede cocoyam field size and ylel'.j from indivicJu,ü farms surveyed were measured.i, Two sets of questionna.ire WE::re used to collect the relevant information. Means 9 percentages, gross margin, benefit - cost ratios, regression and correlation analyses were employed in data analysis. Research resul ts showed that ,:::ocoyam was cul ti vated on oSha out of 1o89ha cultivab,!d by the- sucveyed farmers durin9 the study., women contr:lbuted 66% of the labour lnput used in cocoyam production"'. Onl~ 13% of the respondents used cocoyam mlnisett
techniq1..1e to source plant::l.ng mate,:lat while :;8% used fe.r.tilizer in cocoyam production~ . though the target crop in a cocoyam based crop mixture was cassavae None of the responde~ts ~sed pesticides, herbicides and improved coc•yam cultivar. ·The non-adoption of these technologies wa.s attrib1Jb:'!d to ~heir ncnavaiJ.ability, and fa.rmers0 belief tha.t they are> devJ;-:i\t::t(.ms from normal practice and therefore could not take the risk~