Perceived Effectiveness of Agricultural Technology Transferred among Cocoa Farmers Beneficiaries of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda in Ondo State, Nigeria

Background : Globally, an estimated 5 to 6 million cocoa farmers are present, with about 90% cultivating less than 5 hectares of land. Cocoa is primarily produced and managed by smallholder farmers in Nigeria, while productivity in cocoa over the years is relatively low compared with other cocoa producing countries. This has been attributed to low utilisation of agricultural technology, to revamp the Nigerian Economy, the Federal Government of Nigeria initiated the Economic Transformation Agenda in 2011 with the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) as one of its policy thrusts. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of agricultural technologies transferred among the Cocoa farmers who are beneficiaries of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda programme in Ondo State, Nigeria Results: Level of utilisation of transferred technology was high for fertiliser (x̄=3.75) and fermentation boxes and hybrid cocoa pods (x̄=3.62). Fertiliser (x̄=2.85), insecticide (x̄=2.66), training in cocoa production (x̄=2.55), hybrid pods (x̄=2.56) and herbicides (x̄= 2.54) were perceived as highly effective while labour shortage (x̄=3.55), lack of fund (x̄=2.55) and high labour cost (x̄=3.77) were perceived as severe constraints to technology utilisation. Conclusions: In planning and implementing agricultural development programmes aimed at alleviating the sufferings of farmers and boosting their productive capacities, deliberate efforts should henceforth be made by policy implementers to further strengthen training delivery as well as input distribution components of the programmes.