Proximate determinants of seed demand – a panacea for formulation of agricultural input policy for Nigeria

The agricultural input market in Nigeria is inefficient, which constitutes a major constraint to achieving national food security. Policies for developing agri-input market must adopt a demand-driven process; thus, this paper aimed at identifying the factors that determine the demand for improved agricultural seed as a basis for the formulation of agri-input policy for Nigeria. Data were obtained from National Bureau of Statistics, and farmer survey covering 300 farmers selected by stratified random sampling from the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria. The proximate determinants and quantitative estimates for selected crops: rice, maize and groundnut; were obtained using statistical “factor analysis” approach. The amounts of total variation in the original number of variables explained by the extracted components were: rice (89.09 percent), maize (56.45 percent) and groundnut (63.44 percent). The multiple regression of the double log form testing the effects of these variables on the demand for rice seeds gave a coefficient of determination indicating that 88.73 percent of the total variation in the demand for rice seed was explained by five key variables representing the principal components for rice, namely: land area cultivated; attitude to price; group membership; credit; and seed availability. It was concluded that policy strategies that strengthen access of farmers to land, credit, association building, availability and affordability of inputs would enhance the performance of the agri input system, particularly the seed sector of the country.