South African Journal of Agricultural Extension, Volume 43, Issue 1, pp. 41-56
Kilombero is one of the Districts in Tanzania that is famous in rice production and several
practices have been introduced in order to improve production like improved rice seed
varieties. Despite this adoption of recommended practices has not been convincing. A study
was conducted to assess the current level of adoption and factors influencing adoption of
recommended rice varieties. A cross - sectional research design was used where data were
collected at a single point in time. A pre- tested questionnaire was used to collect data from
120 respondents from six villages, namely Mang’ula A and Mang’ula B from Mang’ula Ward
and Kisawasawa and Ichonde villages from Kisawasawa Ward. Other villages were Mkula
and Sonjo from Mkula Ward. The collected data were analysed by using a Statistical
Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Computer Program. Chi-square was used to test whether
there is significant difference between the two variables under investigation while correlation
was used to test whether there is any relationship between the same variables. The study
findings reveal low adoption of recommended rice varieties where by only 43.3% planted
TXD 306 which is a recommended rice variety. Most of the investigated intervening factors
like Efficiency misperception, Need tension and Prominence seemed to influence the adoption
of recommended rice varieties while the independent variables had no influence in the
adoption behaviour. This calls the need to address the factors that influence adoption in
order to address the problem of low adoption in the study area and hence improve rice yield.