The study evaluated the adoption of improved certified rice seeds (FARO 44) among local farmers in Abuja. The objectives were to describe the socioeconomic characteristic of the respondents, evaluate the level of awareness of certified rice seeds (FARO 44) by the respondents, evaluate the adoption rate of certified rice seeds (FARO 44) by the respondents, determine farmers’ perceptions on the use of certified rice seeds (FARO 44), and identify the constraints in adoption of certified rice seeds (FARO 44) by the respondents. Primary data was used for this study. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select the respondents (small-holder farmers) needed for this study. A total of 270 rice farmers were sampled and used for the study. The data elucidated was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. From the result, 50.74% of the farmers were male, 58.51% of the farmers were below 50 years old with a mean age of 47.37 years. The majority of the farmers were married and educated with a mean household size was about 5.88 persons and below 5 years of experience in rice farming. The average farm size was 2.17 hectares, most (97.413%) of rice farmers in the study area had no access to credit facilities, and had no contact with an extension agent. About 58.74% of the smallholder rice farmers belong to a cooperative society. Majority (43.7%) of the respondents were highly aware of certified seeds, 72.59% of the respondents said got information from the annual field day of the National Agricultural Seed Council. The adoption rate was calculated to be 0.8444. 30.74% got their seeds from Seed Regulatory Council (National Agricultural Seed Council). The result of the logistic regression shows that farming experience and membership of cooperative society significantly affect the adoption of Faro 44 in the study area. The study concluded that most the respondents were highly aware of certified seeds, got information from annual field day of National Agricultural Seed Council, and the adoption rate was calculated to be 0.8444. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that the government through extension agents should ensure that relevant information are readily available to farmers, so that farmers will not have to wait annually to get concrete information about certified seed.

Keywords : FARO 44, National Agricultural Seeds Council, certified seeds.