Arable crop farmers’ perception of agrometeorological services in Ido local government area of Oyo state, Nigeria

Abstract

The role of Agrometeorological services in increasing agricultural productivity in developing countries cannot be over emphasized. Agrometeorological services occupy a dominant position in managing climate variation and its perception among farmers varies from one country to another. This makes it difficult to have a generalized acceptable empirical research result on perception of agrometeorological services among arable crop farmers in developing countries This study assessed arable crop farmers’ perception of agrometeorological services in Ido Local Government Area of Oyo state. Nigeria. A total of 100 arable crop farmers were randomly selected as respondents for the study. Descriptive and inferential statistics such as frequency count, percentage, chi-square and PPMC were used for data analysis. Most respondents (82%) were within the age range of 30-59. Majority (73%) were males, 53% Christians and the remaining 47% were Muslims. The result further showed that 76% of the respondents were married; most of them (79%) had appreciable level of literacy and a fairly large family size of 4-6. Majorities (80%) of the respondents are aware of agro meteorological services, 49% acquired farmland via inheritance and 66% had 2-25years farming experience. Cassava, maize and yams are arable crops cultivated in large quantity. The study finally revealed that most (67%) of the respondents have favorable perception towards agro meteorological services. The study therefore concluded that respondents in the study area have a favourable perception of agrometeorological services. Provision of enabling environment by the government and NGOs is recommended so that their extension agents will be able to take advantages of respondents’ favorable perception in utilizing agrometeorological services to boost agricultural productivity.

Key words: arable crop, farmer, perception agrometeorological services