Article Sidebar
Published:
Nov 12, 2015Keywords:
Article Details
NAJ supports free online communication and exchange of knowledge as the most effective way of ensuring that the fruits of research and development practice are made widely available. It is therefore committed to open access, which, for authors, enables the widest possible dissemination of their findings and, for readers, increases their ability to discover pertinent information. The Journal adopts and uses the CC: BY license and is open access. This license lets others distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the Journal’s published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work. Copyright for articles published in this Journal is retained by the Journal.
Main Article Content
Determinants of soil management practices among small-holder farmers in Ekiti State, Nigeria
Abstract
This study investigated the determinants of soil management practice options among crop-based farmers in Ekiti State, Nigeria. The study employed multi-stage random sampling technique to select 90 crop-based farmers from six communities across the three agricultural zones in the State. Data were collected with the used of structured questionnaire. The data collected were analysed by the use of descriptive statistics, multinomial logit model and factor analysis. The results obtained from the analyses showed that major causes of soil degradation in the study area include: increased deforestation or lumbering activities in the area, continuous cropping, short fallow period due to increased pressure on land, poor afforestation or tree planting practices of farmers and poor access to needed farm inputs such as fertilizers among others. The socio-economic attributes of the farmers that significantly (p≤0.01, p≤0.05) influenced their preference for soil management practice options include: gender of household head, education, income, farm size and number of extension visits. The challenges militating against effective soil management practices by farmers in the study area were farm inputs, finance, institutional challenge and environmental factor. The study therefore recommends socio-economic capacity building of crop-based farmers in effective conservation tillage operation, adoption of organic and inorganic farming, provision of required infrastructural facilities, education and institutional supports to the farmers for improved food production through sustainable and environmental friendly soil management measures.
Keywords: Soil degradation, soil management, crop production and challenges
