PROBLEMS FACING SESAME PRODUCTION: A CASE STUDY OF HADEJIA LOCAL GOVERNMENT, JIGAWA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study was conducted to assess the problems facing sesame production in Hadejia LGA of Jigawa State, Nigeria. It adopted the Descriptive research method involving quantitative approach and selfadministered questionnaire as instrument for data collection. A total of 60 farmers formed the study's sample size. Demographic results indicated that majority of the farmers were married young men within the age group of 25-45 years with very low level of education. Family sizes were found to be big and majority of the farmers were commercial farmers growing sesame for commercial purposes. Findings indicated that the major problem facing sesame production were poor agricultural extension services, theft and prevalence of pests diseases and poor marketing. Hence, it was conclude that, if drastic measures are not taken to addresses these challenges facing the production of sesame, these commercial farmers could be seriously affected financially as well as the state through loss of foreign exchange revenues because sesame is a cash crop majorly exported to other countries. Based on this conclusion it was therefore recommended that, government should strengthen agricultural extension services and provide farmers with improved seeds and agrochemicals such as pesticides and insecticides in order to boost the farmers productivity