Socio-economic determinants of best land management practices adoption in highly anthropized areas: case study of Dan Saga and Tabofatt village clusters in Niger republic

Abstract

The objective sought by this study is to highlight the socio-economic determinants that could be helpful in scaling up of best land management practices in high demographics areas. Indeed, a survey was carried out in Dan Saga and Tabofatt two villages’ clusters in order to identify the driver factors which explain the high adoption of best land management practices in these areas. The data were collected from 200 farmers (100 from each cluster), randomly chosen. The survey addressed the likelihood of farmer to use agroforestry practices and or erosion control practices, on the basis of four socioeconomics variables: the educational level of farmer (Instr), the distance between their farm and habitation (Prox), the possession of Harnessed Cultivation Unit (HCU) and the land tenure status (Land). Data were subjected to an analysis by statistical modeling of logistic regression. The results show that agroforestry technology is predominated in Dan Saga cluster (90% of citation for agroforestry practices) compare to Tabofatt cluster where people use mostly erosion control practices (76% of citation for erosion control practices). Among the socioeconomics variables, three main factors significantly influenced the adoption of best land management; the educational level of peasants, the modality of land tenure by purchase and by inheritance and the possession of harness unit. In addition, the main land management technologies perform a high profitability compare to state of inaction. These results could serve as a lever for scaling up of regreening policy in other degraded areas of Sahel’s region.