Profitability and Adoption of Watermelon Technologies by Farmers in Moro Local Government of Kwara State , Nigeria

The study was carried out to determine the adoption rate of watermelon as an alternative crop to the melon the farmers in Moro Local Government Area, Kwara State Nigeria are used to grow traditionally. Unfortunately, melon had remained a poor marketing commodity over a long period of time due to price fluctuation. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics and gross margin. The results indicate that the majority (80.87%; n = 93) trained in year 2007 are still active in watermelon cultivation. The adoption of watermelon technologies was influenced by extension packaging styles, compatibility with known methods of melon cultivation, relative advantages, good market price and ready market. Budgetary analysis revealed a profitability of watermelon with gross margin of ₦253,850.00 per hectare. The benefit/cost ratio (BCR) was 3:1. The study identified poor extension visit to the farmers after the training. It therefore recommended that the local government should acquire more tractors for hiring to the farmers while subsidy is required in other to reduce the cost of land clearing. Finally, government should as a matter of urgency repair, grade and open up more road network that will facilitating easy transportation of farm produce and reduce cost of transportation.


Introduction
Melon (Citrullus colcynthis) also known as honeydew (Mohammed, 2011) is a major crop in Moro Local Government Area (MLGA) of Kwara State, Nigeria.It is an annual crop planted twice in a year, as an early and late season crop due to the bimodal nature of the raining season in the area.Melon belongs to the family of curcurbitaceae and it is planted for its'seed oil (Mohammed, 2011).It is also a major source of different delicacies in food preparations among tribal groups in Nigeria.Melon flesh is bitter, not edible and cannot be cooked (Lagoke et al., 1983).Melon cultivation is common among the small scale farmers and is inter-planted with crops like cassava, maize, yam, pepper (Rice et al., 1986) in order to maximize utilization of the land resources and increase returns from the production systems (Mohammed, 2011).Melon cultivation has not enjoyed a high level of technological improvements such as the use of new hybrid seeds, fertilizer and processing.According to Mohammed (2011) an average yield of 57.70 kg was obtained on a sole cropping field in Ifelodun Local Government Area Kwara State.Melon cultivation and processing are labor intensive.The matured and harvested fruits are collected on several spots on the farm depending on the farm size.The processing involves breaking the pod, fermentation, scooping the seeds from the pods, washing and sun-drying.Problems associated with marketing of melon include low price and unstable market prices.According to Yusuf et al. (2008), the gross return per hectare (ha) on melon was ₦12, 638.61 with the total cost put at ₦8, 838.74 on average giving a net farm income of ₦3, 799.87 per ha.Ayodele et al. (2007) also reported profit of ₦3, 619.01 on a hectare of melon farm in Ibadan.Mohammed (2011) in his findings on the socioeconomic analysis of melon cultivation in Ifelodun Local Government Kwara State, observed the difference between the gross return and the total cost of production that gave a gross margin of N1, 263.81 per ha.As a result of these factors, most farmers could not sell their produce.Many complained of having produce of between three to four years in storage without any hope of immediate sales.Based on these multiple challenges, Fayolam Farms situated at Bielesin village, via Bode Saadu, Moro LGA of Kwara State conducted a simple survey in 2007 in order to introduce an alternate crop to the farmers that could bring in the needed income for improved livelihood.
Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus L) was chosen after considering several factors within the framework of the diffusion process of new technology that must include relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, triability and observability (Rogers, 2003).The common shared problem, poor marketing and price fluctuation under the social system of diffusion (Rogers, 2003) was addressed as joint problems to be solved towards providing better marketing opportunities for an alternate crop in watermelon.In Nigeria, watermelon grows well both in the humid and drier savanna agro ecologies.The largest production of the crop comes from the northern part of Nigeria where a suitable agro ecology is found (Adekunle et al., 2007).Moro Local Government Area (MLGA) of Kwara State is located in the humid area suited for watermelon cultivation.Watermelon is relished by many people across the world as a fresh fruit (Adekunle et al., 2007).The fruit is 93% water, with small amounts of protein, fat, minerals, and vitamins (Namdari, Mohammedi, & Mobtaker, 2011).Watermelon is known to be low in calories, it contains Vitamins C and Awhich helps address night blindness, eye problems, dry skin, eczema and psoriasis (Bendich & Olson, 1989).It contains potassium which is believed to help in the control of blood pressure and possibly prevent stroke (Adekunle et al., 2007).
The diffusion of the watermelon technologies to the farmers was a tripartite arrangement involving Fayolam Farms, the initiator that provided the logistics, fertilizers and demonstration plot, a seed company that provided different varieties of watermelon seeds adapted to the ecological zone and agro-allied company that provided the herbicides, pesticides and knapsack sprayers.3) Determine the profitability of watermelon production by the respondents in the study area.

Study Area
The Kwara state lies between latitudes 7°45′ N and 9°30′ N and longitudes 2°30′ E and 6°25′ E and covers a total land area of about 332,500 square kilometers (Paul & Oluwasina, 2011).The state has a population of about 2.37 million people (National Population Commission (NPC), 2008).It is exclusively in the hinterlands.The weather is humid tropical (Jimoh & Adeoye, 2011).The state shares boundary with Ondo, Oyo, Osun, Niger and Kogi States in Nigeria and an international border with the Republic of Benin along its northwestern part (Kwara State Government (KWSG), 2003).The mainstay of the state's economy is agriculture.The study area is within Lanwa District in Moro Local Government Area (LGA).Moro LGA was created out of the Ilorin Native Authority in 1976 (KWSG, 2012).The headquarters is at Bode Saadu which is about eighty five kilometers from Ilorin, the state capital.Moro LGA is rural, mostly comprised of local populations with low literacy level and low income (Ajibade et al., 2005).It has an area of 3272 km square and a population of 108,792 at the 2006 census.It is populated by rural farmers.The local government area is endowed with good climatic conditions, sizable expanse of arable and rich fertile soils.The vegetation which is mainly wooded guinea savannah, well suited for the production of a wide variety of staples like yam, melon, groundnut, cassava, maize, cowpea, fruits and vegetables.Rice, sugarcane, locust beans, shea butter trees, cashew, and mango are also significant cash crops.Common to the area are local poultry, guinea-fowls, goats rearing mostly by the women and cattle by immigrant Fulani and Bororo who are settled amongst the people.

Socioe
Reasons for inter-cropping include: reduced risk of crop failure (73.6%; n = 26), lead to increase in income (81.9%;n = 29), weed control (48.5%; n = 17), improves soil fertility (53.9%; n = 19), and effective land resource use (42.4%; n = 15).Sugar baby variety was the most popular (94.9%; n = 87) to a Charleston Gray variety (5.1%; n = 6).The reasons for this may be attributed to its characteristics of big size, sweetness, ability to store very well and command a high price in the market.
The cultural methods employed by the respondents reflected the training pattern that they were taken through with few yet to adopt the entire technologies.All respondents made use of direct seeding (100%; n = 93).Weed control was mostly done by the use of herbicides (60.5%; n = 56) and manual (39.5%; n = 37).Manual weeding demanded an average of 2-3 weeding before harvesting.Manual weeding is mostly affected by accidental cutting of vines, destruction of flowers and stepping on young fruits.Pest and disease control was mostly done by the use of chemical (87.3%; n = 81) and non -utilization of chemical control method (12.7%; n = 12).The use of chemical control of pest and diseases is needed because the high level of susceptibility of watermelon to diseases and pests and this has to be done on a weekly basis at the onset of fruiting.The majority (73%; n = 68) of the respondents owned knapsack sprayers while others rent from colleagues.The majority (58.06%; n = 54) of the respondents relied on hiring labor for their farm operations while others (41.93%; n = 39) depend on family labor.This result is closely in agreement with the findings of Ala and Bala (2011) in their study on the profitability of watermelons production and marketing in Kirfi local government areas of Bauchi State, Nigeria, which revealed that 60% of the labor employed was hired while 40% was family labor.Meanwhile, respondents reported low (23%) visit by extension agents, thus contributing to the inadequacy of solving their technical challenges.

Costs and Return Structure
Table 3 represents the average cost and returns per hectare for sole cropping of watermelon.The total variable cost was N123, 650.00/ha with a gross margin generated at N253, 850.00.The benefit cost ratio was 3:1 indicating high profitability of watermelon cultivation in the area.This is a strong indication why many of the farmers are now opting for watermelon cultivation after the training.There was no report of poor marketing as compared to melon where most farmers are having melon in storage for up to three to four years due to price fluctuation and nonavailability of buyers.
The total cost structure indicates that land preparation (23.05%), herbicides and application (9.95%), fertilizers and application (10.77%), and harvesting (6.9%) accounted for high variable cost.These variables included cost of hiring labor.It implies that hired labor is still highly required for efficiency in any small-holding farming system in Nigeria.Transportation cost (10.11%)was also significant.

Conclusions and Recommendations
From the results obtained from this study, it can be concluded that watermelon production is profitable in this situation and the adoption rate of the watermelon technologies was high and encouraging.The contributory factors to the change by the melon farmers in watermelon production could be attributed to the availability of inputs, markets and the profit margin that accrued to the farmers.These indicate compelling factors / drive for farmland expansion of the farmers.Based on the results from the study, the following recommendations are made: The training workshop was conducted on the 18-19 March, 2007.Farmers were trained with the following modules (a) Land preparation for watermelon cultivation using minimum tillage; (b) Pre and post emergence weed control methods using different types of herbicides; (c) planting (distance and number of seeds per hole); (d) disease and pest control; (e) fertilizer application; (f) How to use a knapsack sprayer, handling and maintenance; (g) harvesting; (h) storage and; (i) marketing tips.The training was practically oriented and conducted in Yoruba language, being the local language.Three years after the introduction of the watermelon technologies, the training is now evaluated to: 1) Examine the socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents; 2) To compare the farm size holding of farmers in 2007 and 2010; Figure 1.Sho re

Table 1 .
socioeconomic characteristics of respondents in the study area N = 93

Table 2 .
Pattern of cropping practices used by the respondents (N = 93)

Table 3 .
Average costs and returns per hectare for sole watermelon