Assessment of Agroforestry Practices by Farmers in Lagelu Local Government of Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the Agroforestry practices among farmers in Lagelu local government area of Oyo state, Nigeria. Three of the four Zones of Oyo state ADP (Agricultural Development Programme): Olorunda, Lalupon and Oyedeji were purposively sampled for the study because of the dense population of trees and the predominance of agroforestry in the Zones. Five farmer’ groups were randomly sampled in each Zone and thirteen farmers were randomly selected in each of the farmer’ groups, giving a total of one hundred and ninety five respondents. Structured questionnaire and oral interviews were used to collect information from the respondents. Frequency counts, percentages, pie chart and bar chart were used to analyze the data. Majority of the respondents (66.2%) were males while (33.8%) were females. Mixed Farming which is a common farming system in the South West of Nigeria is predominant in the study area. Theobroma cacao (cocoa) 15.7% and Chrysophylum albidium (African Star apple) 14.9% took the lead among the tree species used in Agroforestry. The major constraint encountered by the farmers in practising agroforestry is limited access to land and lack of financial assistance. The problem of insufficient land and the consequential land fragmentation is reflected in small farm sizes and many farm locations. The study recommends that sufficient land should be made available for farming; farmers should be financially assisted in their farming enterprises with low interest loans. Extension education in the area of agrofrorestry should also be intensified.

Key words: Agroforestry, farming systems, tree crops, extension education