CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Technology can also be defined as a general term for the processes by which human beings fashion tools and machines to increase their control and understanding of the material environment (Merritt, 2008). Technology is the most important factor that can contribute to growth in agricultural productivity. The use of technology in agriculture involves the application of technological innovations into production, storage and processing of agricultural products to improve the efficiency. These improvements include the use of mechanisation in farming, the use of chemicals to control diseases and pests, the use of fertilizers, new tillage practices, introduction of improved plant and animal species and so on. The major contributions of agricultural technology are an increase in farm productivity resulting in increased income and poverty reduction, food security and others (Department for International Development United Kingdom-DFID, 2004). The availability of these innovations or technology for agricultural production is one step in the process of improved agricultural production, the next and most important step is the adoption of these improved production technologies by the farmers.
The adoption of new technology is described as an innovation decision process through which an individual passes through the time of first knowledge of the innovation to a decision stage of either adoption or rejection and confirm the decision (Ekong, 2003). It is the stage in which an individual (in this case the farmer) decides to use a new technology. The adoption of any technology is dependent on the profitability of the technology, the risk and uncertainty associated with it, the initial capital requirement, socio-economic characteristics of the farmers and cultural/traditional belief systems. The increase in productivity associated with improved technologies can only be reaped if the farmers adopt the technology.
Peri-urban areas are those areas around urban areas; they are the fringes of urban cities and are intermediary between urban areas and rural areas bearing some characteristics of both. A Peri-urban area as described by Thünen (1966) is based on the following components when compared with urban areas;
Peri-urban is, in some fashion, connected to being urban
Demographic components; this is based on the population size of the area. The peri-urban area has a population density markedly less than urban areas but not as small as rural areas.