AbstractA farm level study on the adoption (and adaptation) of alley farming was conducted in Nigeria between July and September 1996. Two hundred and twenty-three farmers were surveyed in 14 villages, 142 in the southwest and 81 in the southeast. Results suggest a number of socioeconomic factors that should be used for better targeting of alley farming and its variants in Nigeria. Some conclusions can be drawn from the analysis. First, the adoption process of the alley farming technology is not gender-neutral; the probability of adoption was higher for men than for women farmers. Secondly, it appears that village-level proxies for economic and institutional factors play a key role in influencing incentives for technology adoption. Thirdly, efforts to promote agroforestry technologies should focus on not just locational issues, but also on their interaction with policy-amenable variables. Finally, it is important for researchers to carefully monitor and assess how farmers are using technologies.