Adoption process of agro-biotechnology among researchers in Nigerian Universities and Research Institutes: the logistics regression approach.

Abstract

Aims: Food insecurity in most developing countries was a result of their low/small scale of operation in farming enterprise resulting to low yields. To increase agricultural productivity, biotechnology has been considered as a strong potential to improve agricultural production. This paper examined the biotechnology adoption scenario in Nigeria from the viewpoint of academic researchers. Study Design: A purposive sampling technique was adopted and the target population was limited to 100 academic biotechnology researchers. Methodology: Eighty percent of the researchers came from Universities while 10 per cent each was drawn from College of Agriculture and Institute of Agricultural Research respectively. Mean age was 44.5 years; mean teaching/research experience was 7.5 years. Logit model estimates for the study areas showed that the effect of the three independent variables: level of knowledge, level of acceptance and level of transfer of technology were statistically significant at 5% level. Results: These findings' revealed that knowledge about an innovation is an indicator of the level of adoption. As the awareness of knowledge increases, it is more likely that there will be a corresponding increase in the level of adoption. The acceptance variable has a positive impact on the decision to adopt biotechnology. Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that the level of knowledge, acceptance and transfer of technology has direct effect on the level of adoption of biotechnology innovations. Therefore, there is need for policies that will streamline agro-biotechnology programme in a sustainable way for potential users.