Analysis of the effect of socio-economic characteristics of nigerian farmers' on access and use of tractor for farm mechanization: an application of logistic analysis

This study aims to identify various socio-economic variables that affect the farmers' decisions to Access and use farm tractors in Kaduna State. The study area was divided into five Local Government Areas and using Local Government Secretariat as sampling units, 40 Persons were selected per Local Government Area using the simple random sampling technique. A total of 300 respondents were interviewed using structured questionnaires. A logistic function model was employed to identify the main Characteristics influencing farm tractors access and usage by Persons on farms surveyed in the district. The SAS computer package was used to derive the maximum likelihood estimates of the access and usage process and to calculate the chi-square. The results of the logit analysis showed that education, age and land size were significant at 0.05 level of significance. Formal education is vital and farmers should be educated about the need to promote farm tractors. Attention should be focused on older farmers who are mainly the decision-makers in most Persons. The role of extension in promoting farm tractors should not be played down especially as concerns providing technical advice. Small-scale farmers should be encouraged to commercialise farm tractors so as to diversify their source of income.