Article Sidebar
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 agricultural land use intensity among small scale arable crop farmers in Oruk Anam Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria
Abstract
The study identifies drivers of agricultural land intensity and analyzed farmers‘ perceived constraints to sustainable land management in Oruk Anam Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. Cross sectional data were collected from sampled arable crop farmers using structured questionnaire. Descriptive tools and regression analysis were employed to analyze the research objectives. Herfindhal index proxies agricultural land intensification of farmers. An average Herfindhal index of 0.4174 was obtained among farmers, implying that, the frequency of land use among farmers was moderate, but the intensity of cropping (number of crops planted per season) continuously increase. The empirical results revealed that, non-farm income, amount spent on labour, educational level of farmers, farming experience, farm size and poverty level of farmers were negative drivers of agricultural land use intensity among small scale arable crop farmers in the region. On the contrary, increase in fertilizer use, household size and farm output affected land use intensity positively. In addition, majority of farmers agreed that, land fragmentation, theft, prevalence of pests and diseases and poor cultivars of crops were the major environmental constraints militating against sustainable use of agricultural land by small scale arable crop farmers in the region. Similarly, majority of the farmers upheld that, high cost of farm inputs, transportation cost, and processing cost as well as fertilizer and manure costs were serious economic constraints to sustainable land use in the study area. Based on the findings, it is recommended that, governments of the region should intensify effort to provide adequate and accessible land through development of green fields and marginal lands in order to reduce unnecessary pressure on land. Fertilizer subsidy programme for small scale famers in the region is absolutely necessary if sustainable land use intensity is envisaged by government of the region.
Key words: land use, arable crop, crop intensity and farmers
