Assessment of the Use of Maize Storage Structures among Maize Farmers in Ido Local Government Area of Oyo State

Part of Nigerian government efforts toward food security and development of agriculture was the provision of an improved maize storage structures to farmers in all local government of the states. Despite this effort, most of the maize farmers in Ido local government area of Oyo state used different indigenous storage structures in stored their maize while some farmers often sell the larger proportion of their produce at harvest. In view of this situation, the research therefore investigated the assessment of use of maize storage structures among maize farmers in Ido local government area of Oyo state. A multistage sampling procedure was used in selecting 120 respondents and the data for this study were obtained through the use of interview schedule which were therefore subjected to analysis. Descriptive statistics and inferential tools were used in describing and making inferences. At p 0.05 level of significance there was correlation between age (r = 0.000), household size (r = 0.000), income (r = 0.000), constraints (r = 0.000), benefits (r = 0.000) and the used of maize storage structures. Chi-square analysis also revealed that level of education was significant to the use of maize storage structures (x² = 28.03, p = 0.000). The study then concluded that there was low use of maize storage structures due to high cost of an improved storage structure, high cost of used and high cost of storage chemicals. Based on these findings, the study recommended that maize farmers should pool their resources together in order for them to afford an expensive improved storage technologies and credit facilities should be made available to farmers by the government so as to overcome the challenges they are facing in storing maize produce.