Socio-economic factors influencing the types of agroenterprises practiced by Peri-urban farmers in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study assessed the socio-economic characteristics influencing the types of agro-enterprises practiced by Peri-urban Farmers in Rivers  State, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to collect data from 201 Peri-urban Farmers with the use of structured  questionnaire and interview schedule. Data were analyzed using descriptive (mean, percentages and ranking) and inferential statistics  (Binary Logistic regression). Results indicate that majority of the respondents were married (64.2%), female (52.2%) and were above 40  years old (70.1%), do not usually contact Extension Agents (56.7%) and almost all of them (99.5%) do not belong to farmers’ association. The respondents' involvement in agro-enterprises were influenced by years spent in acquiring formal education, farming experience,  age, sex and farm size (crop production enterprise), sex (livestock production enterprise), farming experience (fishery enterprise), age  and contact with an extension agent (agro-forestry and horticulture enterprise). It was recommended that Ministries of Agriculture,  agricultural extension management and relevant stakeholders should empower periurban crop farmers (especially females) with  agricultural lands, empower peri-urban male farmers to engage in livestock production enterprise, train peri-urban fish farmers on  innovative methods of fish farming, educate older Peri-urban Farmers on innovative ways of practicing agro-forestry and horticulture  while updating them with agricultural extension information related to agroforestry and horticulture.