Adoption of land management technologies amongst small-holder farmers in Ekiti State, Nigeria: Implications for food security

Abstract

Land management is an integral effort of stakeholders (for example Local farmers Governmental and Non-governmental Organizations (NGO's)) in ensuring the preservation of land and at the same time facilitating the restoration of soil nutrients status. It is all about preventing soil from being damaged, destroyed or lost, thereby enhancing good land utilization for productive uses. This present study aimed at determining the extent of the adoption of land management technologies (LMTs) amongst small holder farmers in Ekiti State Agricultural Zone with the specific objectives of describing the personal characteristics of farmers in the study areas, identifying various land management technologies, ascertaining the benefits accruable from land management technologies adoption and identifying the limiting factors to the adoption of land management technologies. Multi-stage random sampling technique was used to select the respondents for the study. Eight of the sixteen Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the State were purposely selected based on the participation of the farmers in Agricultural Development Programmes (ADPs). The selected (LGAS) were: Ikole, Oyo, Ido, Ijero, Ekiti west, Ekiti east, Moba and Irepodun/Ifelodun. Two communities were randomly selected from each of the LGA, making a total of sixteen communities. In all, one hundred and eighty farmers were selected for the study. Structured interview schedules were administered to respondents to elicit requisite information. The results of descriptive statistics revealed that six land management technologies were disseminated, whereas planting of cover crops was the most adopted LMTs (65%) followed by erosion control (59%), afforestation (45%), reforestation (42%) and application of synthetic fertilizer (40%). Benefits deduced from the adoption of LMTs included correct land uses (72%) and security against land degradation (54%). Meanwhile, factors limiting the adoption of LMTs included high cost of LMTs (soil testing) incessant bush burning and inadequate technical know-how of LMTs by the extension agents. Results of correlation analysis revealed a positive relationship between LMTs adoption and age (r=0.19, p<0.05), farm size (r=0.07), (p<0.05), years of farming experience (r=-0.522, p<0.01), and contact with extension agents (r=0.08, p<0.01). However, a negative relationship was found between LMTs adoption and education (r=-0.0251, p<0.01) and income (r=0.302, p<0.01). Therefore, in order to enhance sustainable food security in Nigeria all the identified limiting factors to the adoption of LMTs must be urgently looked into by all the stakeholders.