Agricultural Cooperatives and Improved Technologies Adoption among Smallholder Farmers in Cocoa ‐Based Farming Systems of Southwestern Nigeria

Cocoa productivity in Nigeria, has been declining in recent years. The declining productivity has been attributed to a lot of factors including slow adoption of improved technologies in cocoa ‐based farming systems. One of the efforts to accelerate im ‐ proved technologies adoption process among cocoa farmers is through establishment of agricultural cooperatives. This study was therefore conducted to determine the effect of membership in agricultural cooperatives on the adoption of improved tech ‐ nologies in cocoa ‐based farming systems. A multi ‐stage sampling procedure was employed to select 200 respondents for the study. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, adoption index and Tobit regression model. The results for the entire respondents showed mean values of 52 years for age, 29 years for farming ex ‐ perience, 10 people for household size and 6 ha for farm size. The average adoption level of improved technologies was estimated at 37 percent in the study area. Based on the average adoption level, about 61 percent of the sampled population are classified as partial adopters, while 39 percent are full adopters of improved technologies. Tobit's regression estimates revealed that gender, household size, farm size, hired labour, extension visits, and mem ‐ bership in agricultural cooperative significantly influenced the probability and intensity of adopting of improved technologies in cocoa ‐based farming system. The study concluded that membership in agricultural cooperatives has a significant influence on the adoption of improved technologies. Therefore, the study recom ‐ mends establishing an agricultural cooperative that ensures efficient and effective training on improved technologies, as well as the strengthening the agricultural cooperative in order to provide microcredit necessary for greater adoption of improved cocoa production technologies among farmers. Also, cocoa farmers should be encouraged to participate in agricultural cooperatives.