Adoption and impacts of modern sorghum and pearl millet varieties in Northern Nigeria

This paper uses a data set of 1105 households from 119 villages living in 6 states of Northern Nigeria (Borno, Jigawa, Zamfara, Katsina, Kano and Yobe) to assess the current and potential adoption rates as well as the impact of modern sorghum and pearl millet varieties released since 1996 in Nigeria. Varieties under investigation include modern sorghum varieties and hybrids namely ICSV 111, ICSV 400, ICSH 89002 NG, ISCH 89009 NG, and SK 5912 and pearl millet varieties namely SOSAT C88, LCIC 9702, GB 8735 and ZATIB. Adopters are defined as those having planted at least one modern variety of pearl millet or sorghum. Results showed that the current adoption rates for modern pearl millet varieties is estimated to 34.8% of the farmers and that of modern sorghum varieties is estimated to about 22.9%. In terms of area planted, modern pearl millet varieties account for 25% of the pearl millet area and 17 % of the sorghum area planted. The pearl millet variety SOSAT C88 is largely adopted by farmers accounting for about 95% of area planted with modern pearl millet varieties. For sorghum, ICSV 400 and ICSV 111 are the most widely adopted accounting for 8.46% and 7.07% of area cultivated to sorghum respectively. They both account both for more than 95% of area planted with modern sorghum varieties. Over all, extrapolating from FAO statistical data, it can be estimated that in Northern Nigeria, modern pearl millet varieties occupy 1,154,261 ha and modern sorghum varieties about 1,200,532 ha.