Adult Literacy and Farmers’ Adoption of Agricultural Innovation in South-East, Nigeria
Keywords:
adult literacy, agricultural innovation, farmers, farmers’ adoption, South-East NigeriaAbstract
Adult literacy aims to equip farmers with essential skills in reading, writing, and numeracy, enabling them to better understand and embrace innovations, including those related to agricultural practices. Despite its importance, there has been limited empirical evidence linking adult literacy to farmers’ adoption of agricultural innovations in South-East Nigeria. This study therefore investigated the relationship between adult literacy and farmers’ adoption of agricultural innovation in the region. A quantitative approach using a correlational survey design was employed, involving 379 respondents selected through multistage sampling procedures. Data were collected using a 44-item structured instrument titled Adult Literacy and Agricultural Innovation Farmers’ Adoption Questionnaire (ALAIFAQ). The questionnaire was content validated by three experts, and its reliability was confirmed using the Cronbach Alpha method, yielding a coefficient of 0.76. Data analysis was conducted using the Pearson Product Moment Correlation to address the research questions and test the null hypotheses at the 0.05 significance level. Findings revealed that adult literacy has a significant positive high correlation with farmers’ awareness and a significant positive moderate correlation with farmers’ interest in agricultural innovations. The study also showed a non-significant positive low correlation between adult literacy and farmers’ evaluation of innovations. However, adult literacy demonstrated a significant positive high correlation with farmers’ trial of innovations and their eventual adoption for sustainable agricultural development in South-East Nigeria. The study concludes that adult literacy is a critical factor influencing farmers’ engagement with agricultural innovations. Strengthening adult literacy programmes is therefore recommended to enhance farmers’ awareness, interest, trial participation, and adoption of new technologies.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Asogwa,Vincent Chidindu, Edward C. Isiwu , Chris Olusola Omoregie
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license terms are as follows:
License Overview: This license allows you to share and adapt the material for non-commercial purposes only, as long as you give credit to the original author and license your new creations under the identical terms.
Key Terms:
Attribution: You must give credit to the original author, provide a link to the licence, and indicate if changes were made.
NonCommercial: You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
ShareAlike: If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same licence as the original.
Permissions:
- Reproduce and share the licensed material in whole or in part for non-commercial purposes.
- Produce, reproduce, and share adapted material for non-commercial purposes only.
- Exceptions and Limitations: Where exceptions and limitations apply to your use, this licence does not apply, and you do not need to comply with its terms and conditions.
Term: The term of this licence is specified in Section 6(a) of the licence agreement.
