Assessment of adoption and utilisation of superior rice germplasm by smallholder farmers in four rice producing zones of Nigeria

Conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources is essential to the sustainable development of agricultural production and rural in production zones in Nigeria. This study, therefore investigated the utilisation of recently released superior rice germplasm among smallholder farmers in Nigeria. A post- crop varietal release impact assessment was conducted in Oyo, Ekiti, Kwara and Ebonyi states of Nigeria in 2019. Structured questionnaires were administered to 120 farmers using a simple random sampling technique. Result from the study revealed that ricefarmers are mainly males, middle aged, married, with some form of education. They have medium (3-6 household member) household size with longer years of farming experiences. Inadequate capital and limited credit facilities, plant disease, birds and insect infestation are the major constraints encountered by the farmers. Result of the correlation analysis shows that there was no significant relationship between sources of planting materials and frequently planted varieties (r = 0.100 and p = 0.786). However, there was significant relationship between production  constraints and frequently planted varieties (r = 0.010 and p = 0.648). It is recommended that more channels of credit facilities should be provided to rice farmers by governments at various levels to improve their level productivity. Keywords: Rice, adoption, genetic resources, utilisation, smallholder farmers