An extension officer wants to promote integrated pest management (IPM) to 500 small‑holder rice farmers. Three communication strategies are available:

1. Radio programme: cost ₦0.5 per farmer, expected adoption 80 %.
2. Field demonstration: cost ₦2 per farmer, expected adoption 95 %.
3. Combined radio + demonstration: cost ₦2.2 per farmer, expected adoption 98 %.

The total budget is ₦800. The officer may allocate the budget to any mix of the three strategies, but each farmer can receive at most one strategy. Determine the allocation that yields the greatest number of adopters and state that maximum number.

Question

An extension officer wants to promote integrated pest management (IPM) to 500 small‑holder rice farmers. Three communication strategies are available:

1. Radio programme: cost ₦0.5 per farmer, expected adoption 80 %.
2. Field demonstration: cost ₦2 per farmer, expected adoption 95 %.
3. Combined radio + demonstration: cost ₦2.2 per farmer, expected adoption 98 %.

The total budget is ₦800. The officer may allocate the budget to any mix of the three strategies, but each farmer can receive at most one strategy. Determine the allocation that yields the greatest number of adopters and state that maximum number.

Accepted Answer

Allocate the radio programme to all 500 farmers; this yields the highest adoption of 400 farmers.

Neco 2021 Agricultural Science Question 49

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