Abstract

The study examined perception of the effect of rural road transportation system on agricultural production in Oyo State. A two-stage sampling procedure was employed to collect information from one hundred and twenty nine (129) respondents. Results revealed that majority (79.8%) of the farmers were male, with an average age of 49 years. Major roads present in the study area were un-tarred single roads (74.4%). It was observed that the most common mode of transporting farm produce from farm to house or market was by wheel barrow as indicated by over half (54.3%) of the farmers. Inadequate transport services (1.49), wastage of farm produce (1.41), smashing of farm produce due to overloading (1.22), un-timeliness of vehicle drivers (1.12), exposure to robbery attacks (1.06) and long distance from farm to house or markets (1.01) were the major problems hindering movement of agricultural produce in the area. Generally, over half (54.3.0%) of the respondents had high perception of the effect of rural road transportation on agricultural production. Conclusively, significant relationship existed between perception of effect of rural road transportation on agricultural production and age, years of farming experiences and the road transportation problems. It is therefore recommended that rural transport system linking farms and markets should be given adequate priority due to perishability, seasonality, bulkiness of agricultural products for effective transportation which guaranteed improved agricultural productivity in the study area.