INVOLVEMENT OF ARABLE CROPS FARMERS IN ORGANIC AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION IN ONDO STATE
Keywords:
Arable crop, Farmer perception, Adoption, Organic FarmingAbstract
Organic farming is currently being recognised as a potential way forward to the long-term sustainability of crop production systems; however, its adoption by smallholder farmers in Nigeria remains limited. Trying to explain the underlying dynamics, the current study considered the perceptions, the level of participation and limitations on uptake of organic farming practices among a group of 120 arable crop owners in Ondo State. Perception of organic agriculture among the respondents was significantly positive with a grand mean of 3.99 with a standard deviation of 0.81 on a five-point Likert scale. Most of the farmers recognized that organic practices increase the fertility of soil (65.0 percent; mean = 4.62), reduce health hazards due to synthetic inputs (58.3 percent; mean = 4.53). Though such positive perceptions were experienced, there was still low to moderate actual involvement of organic techniques (grand mean = 2.54 ± 1.04). The high participation levels were restricted to traditional interventions which included intercropping (mean= 4.00) and crop rotation (mean= 3.90) only but the more knowledge-intensive ones like the use of biofertilizers (mean= 1.80), drip irrigation (mean= 1.65), and no-till farming (mean= 1.50) were lowly participated. The gap between positive attitudes and implementation of behaviour is indicated by this discrepancy, a trend that can be traced throughout the history of the agricultural extension profession.The main barriers to its broad adoption were determined as follows; organic inputs were limited (71.7 percent of the respondents), technical knowledge was lacking (68.3 percent), market access was weak (65.0 percent), and capital resources were not available (58.3 percent). These results are similar to that of previous researchers who identify the resource limitation, especially the lack of inputs and market connections, as the most important obstacles to the adoption of organic practices in low-income environments.
Keywords: Arable crop, Farmer perception, Adoption, Organic Farming
