ASSESSMENT OF GINGER PRODUCTION VALUE CHAIN INFORMATION NEEDS FOR SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOOD IN KACHIA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Ginger production is dominated by small holder low-income farmers, though experienced, yield remained consistently and relatively low. Hence the study investigated information needs of farmers using closed structured questionnaires, randomly but purposefully distributed to 120 farmers in Agunu, Gidan Tagwai, Gumel, Kurmin Musa, Kwaturu and Sabon Sarki wards in Kachia. Data were subjected to descriptive statistics, mathematical techniques(Confrontation indexes), correlation and regression analyses at p ≤ 0.05. Results showed that 80.83 % married male (66.67 %) within the ages of 31-40 years (46.67 %) dominated production with average farm size of 1-2 ha and farming experience of 6-7 years. Of the 14 identified information needs, six were needed with pest management (3.85), fertilizer (3.84), marketing information (3.59)  and source of credit ranking high while seven were rarely needed but irrigation and water management were not needed. Evidently, ginger farming is basically on traditional technology as major source of information is from parents and friends (39.86 %) coupled with problems like irregular power (3.63),  inadequate funds for digital information (3.44)  and inadequate information dissemination (3.43). Positive and significant correlation and regression coefficient between demographic data and information needs (sex (R² = 0.847), farm size (R² = 0.728) and family size (R² = 0.707)) indicated strong influence. Therefore, inter alia  emphasis on the use of digital knowledge, women involvement, funding, functional extension services, training and retraining of farmers are imperative to improve production and livelihood of farmers.