ABSTRACT

For many years, agro-input supply and distribution has been limited by ambiguity in government policies regarding production and provision of subsidy. Subsidy administration has been fraught with many inefficiency with farmers claiming that inputs do not get to them at required times. Therefore the study investigated Level of Knowledge and Attitude of Cassava Farmers towards Growth Enhancement Support Scheme. The study area was Abia State. Multi-stage sampling techniques were used in the selection of sample size. In the first stage, 3 Local Government Areas were selected from the three Agricultural zones in the State, followed by random selection of two communities from each Local Government Area and the selection of 20 cassava farmers for each community, bringing the sample size to 120. Data were collected using wellstructured questionnaire and participatory observation by the researcher. Data generated were analyzed using simple descriptive and inferential statistics. Major findings revealed that most ofthe farmers were married (72%), 43% had no formal education, 60% ofthe acquired land through self effort. The results also indicated that about 57% of the farmers produced 40-50 bag/ha, while only 26% of the farmers produced about 80-90 bags/ha on level of knowledge ofthe scheme. About 76% ofthe respondents, have heard about GESS, 62% were registered numbers, but none ofthe members had knowledge on activation of numbers. On attitude of cassava farmers on GESS, all the variables tested had a mean score above the decision rule of 3.0 except spending money in retrieving GES-input with a mean score of(2.1), meaning that they have a positive attitude towards the programme. On level of participation, the hypothesis result shows that farming experience, educational level and frequency of extension contact were negative but significantly related to GESS. Therefore the null-hypothesis which stated that there is no significant relationship between the socio-economic characteristics and GESS is rejected, and the alternative hypothesis accepted. It is concluded that the respondents’ level of knowledge was high and the respondents had a positive attitude towards GESS. Replacement of cunent 10-digits activation numbers with user-friendly 3-digits codes should be encouraged.