Sustainable Agricultural Practices among arable crop farmers in Oyo state, Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated the utilisation of Sustainable Agricultural Practices (SAP) by arable crop farmers in Oyo State, Nigeria. A total of 152 respondents were sampled using a multi-stage sampling procedure. Descriptive statistics were used to summarise the data and inferential statistics were used to describe the relationship and differences that exist between the variables. Results reveal that majority were male (79.6%), married (82.9%), had secondary education (70.0%) with a mean age of 38.73 years. Also, majority (52.0%) of the respondents had a favourable attitude towards the use of SAPs. Mixed farming (x = 1.47) was the SAP utilised most by the respondents. Level of utilisation of SAPs was low among majority (41.4%) of the respondents. A significant relationship existed between ownership of farmland (chi-square = 16.302, p = 0.000), membership of organisation (chi-square = 121.754, p = 0.000), years of farming experience (r = 0.215, p = 0.008), and the utilisation of SAPs by the respondents. The study concluded that the level of utilisation of SAPs is low and recommended the institutionalisation of digital extension services to enhance outreach to a broader spectrum of farmers on various uses of sustainable agricultural practices.