EFFECT OF BIOTECHNOLOGY ADOPTION ON UNICEF ASSISTED VEGETABLE FARMERS IN NIGERIA: IMPLICATIONS FOR FOOD SECURITY

The evidence of malnutrition symptoms is rife among children in Nigeria. Participation of women vegetable farmers in UNICEF nutrition programme could enhance their ability to adopt the relevant biotechnologies for vegetable production for their families. Biotechnology is a group of technologies that make use of biological entities or processes to generate new and better products and processes. The main thrust of this study is to assess whether or not the participation of vegetable farmers in United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) assisted nutrition programme influenced their adoption of biotechnologies and food security in Nigeria. Multi stage random sampling technique was used to select 120 respondents for the study. Primary data collected with structured questionnaire, were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical tools. The finding of the analysis on the impacts of adoption of biotechnology (such as genetically modified improved varieties of vegetables, biological pest-controlling, weeding and organic fertilization biotechnologies) on vegetable farmers is presented. The result shows that adoption of the relevant biotechnologies generated both a pest-free vegetables and enhanced yield of vegetables. Thus, successful adoption of biotechnologies by vegetable farmers was derived from availability of funds, relevant technologies and skills provided by UNICEF intervention programme. These had enhanced the ability of poor vegetable farmers to obtain adopt biotechnologies. Furthermore, beneficiary women vegetable farmers had more money from the sales of vegetables to spend on family food consumption after benefitting from UNICEF assisted nutrition intervention programme. Further finding reveals that vegetable farmers were 53.6% satisfied with the intervention programme of UNICEF in Delta state, Nigeria. It was recommended that the more women farmers should be made to benefit from UNICEF assisted nutrition intervention programme in the future. Also, the fund for the intervention should be scaled up in the future so as to generate more impacts.