Factors Influencing the Adoption of Improved Agricultural Technologies among Smallholder Farmers in Makurdi, Benue State

The study analysed the factors influencing smallholder farmers’ adoption of improved agricultural technologies in Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique was used to select 108 respondents, while data were collected through structured questionnaires and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results showed that 91.67% of respondents were male, 57.41% were aged 21–40 years, 94.44% were married, and 84.26% had secondary education. Most respondents (92.59%) were farmers, 53.70% had 21–30 years farming experience, 70.37% cultivated 4–7.9 hectares, and 85.19% belonged to cooperatives, although the same proportion lacked extension access. The major technologies adopted were herbicides for land clearing (100%), pesticides for pest control (100%), fertilizers (100%), sowing dates (99.07%), and mechanized tillage (85.19%). Logistic regression results showed that age (-0.009) negatively influenced adoption, while household size (0.4213) positively influenced adoption. Extension services mainly contributed through awareness creation (76.85%), technical support (60.19%), and facilitating access to inputs and credit (56.48%). Major challenges affecting adoption included high cost of technologies (95.37%), lack of access to credit (90.74%), poor distribution channels (86.11%), bad roads (79.63%), poor infrastructure (78.70%), and adherence to traditional farming methods (65.74%). The study recommends improved extension services, rural infrastructure, and digital advisory platforms such as radio, SMS, and WhatsApp groups to enhance technology adoption.