Value orientation issues affecting adoption behaviour of food crop farmers in Ondo State, Nigeria

The study investigated value orientation issues that affect the adoption behaviour of food crop farmers in Ondo state, Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique was used to identify 120 respondents used for the study. Data for the study was collected using an interview schedule and analyzed using chi-square and Pearson Product Moment Correlation. Value orientation was measured using the Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ) scale. The study showed value orientations to be an issue or concept that affects not only agricultural adoption, but which if understood can serve as a tool for the prediction of behaviour among farmers and individuals in society. The results showed that socio-economic characteristics of respondents had a significant relationship with their value orientations and value orientations of the respondents also had a significant relationship with their adoption of agricultural technologies. The predominant value orientations of rural farmers of Ondo state were harmony with nature for man-nature orientation (44.2%), good and evil for human-nature orientation (52.5%), present (40%) closely followed by past (37.5%) for time orientation, collateral for relational orientation (59.2%), and being-in-becoming for activity orientation(37.5%). The percentage average rate of adoption of agricultural technologies studied was (48.7%). The effects of value orientations on adoption of agricultural technologies were noticed in only five of the technologies tested, and were shown to be negative and significant. The affected technologies included: pest control in food crop farm, use of herbicides, insecticides and fungicides, improved fertilizer application methods, row spacing and the use of harvesters. Implications are that further studies by agricultural extension personnel, on value orientations as a tool for predicting or influencing adoption level of farmers, as well as other behaviours will enhance their productivity and effectiveness. Government through the Agricultural Development Project can also run studies to profile regions and states according to value orientations. This will aid in the value re-orientation activities of several development efforts in the country.