EFFECTS OF REHABILITATION ON COCOA BEANS YIELD IN SOUTHERN NIGERIA

Abstract

The old age of cocoa trees and abandonment of cocoa farms were the major causes of low yield in cocoa production in Nigeria. However, institutional effort of the Federal Government such as National Cocoa Development Committee (NCDC) has led to increase in Cocoa output in the country. Nevertheless, Cocoa Rehabilitation techniques were developed and transferred to cocoa farmers but the extent to which these techniques contributed to cocoa output have not been determined. This study therefore investigated the effects of cocoa rehabilitation techniques on cocoa beans yield in Southern Nigeria. Multistage sampling procedure was used to select respondents for the study. Three states, these are Ondo, Oyo and Cross-Rivers States were purposively selected out of ten cocoa producing states in southern Nigeria. Two Local Government Areas (LGAs) were also purposively selected, these was followed by purposively selection of two communities to give a total of 12 communities. Finally 25 Cocoa farmers were randomly selected in each community from the list of farmer’s organization to give a total of 300 cocoa farmers for the study. Structured questionnaire was designed and interview scheduled was used to obtain information on personal characteristics, extension activities received, yield of their cocoa farms, cocoa rehabilitation techniques adopted, farmers’ attitude, constraints experienced, level of adoption and the average yield of cocoa beans before and after cocoa rehabilitation techniques were determined. Chi-square, correlation coefficient, t-test and regression analysis were used to analyze the data at 5% level of significance. The results showed that, majority (84.7%) of the respondents were still very active in farm work. 88.0% claimed that their cocoa farms are more than 20 years old. Finance was the major constraint faced by the farmers; this was also substantiated with the result of Focus Group Discussion (FGD) in Ona –Ara LGAs of Oyo State. The mean yield of cocoa beans reduced from 334.16kg in 2004 to 303.69kg in 2006 before cocoa rehabilitation; while there was an appreciable increase from 411.33kg in 2014 to 518.95 in 2015 after cocoa rehabilitation. There was a significant relationship between sex (X2 = 0.367, P<0.05), membership of organization (X2 = 9.324, P<0.05), Educational Status (X2 =18.146, P <0.05), Cosmopolitness (X2 = 11.515, P CO.05) Extension Contact (X2 = 6.471, P<O.05) and Credit facilities (X2 = 3.840, P < 0.05) and Cocoa bean yield after intervention. There was also a significant relationship between extension activities (r = 0.456, P = 0.001) and Cocoa bean yield. Result of t – test analysis showed that there was a significant difference in the mean yield of Cocoa bean (33.2) before cocoa rehabilitation and mean yield of cocoa beans (511.2) after cocoa rehabilitation. Result of regression also showed that planting under old cocoa trees (t=2.000, P<0.05), gapping up (t=2.327, P<0.05) and complete farm replanting (t=0.635, P<O.05) have influence on Cocoa bean yield. It was concluded that adoption of cocoa rehabilitation techniques influence cocoa beans yield. Based on the analysis, the major recommendation was that, research Institutions and non-profit, nongovernmental organizations should collaborate in the areas of seed multiplication, training on improved practices through on-farm adaptive research approach in order to help improve the productivity of cocoa farms and maximizes the benefit to farmers and their families.