Analysis of soil conservation practices and adoption in Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the adoption of soil conservation practices among arable crop farmers in Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria. Structured questionnaire was used in collecting data from 80 arable crop farmers who were randomly selected from the study area. Data on the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents, their farm output and income, as well as different conservation practices adopted and the perceived effectiveness of the conservation practices adopted by the farmers were collected. Descriptive statistics and Probit regression analysis were used to analyze the data collected. The findings of the study indicated that majority (73.8%) of the farmers were male with mean age of 42.7 years. The mean household size was 6 people and majority of the farmers (85.0%) had formal education. The study also shows that farmers in the area adopted different combination of cultural and biological methods of soil conservation practices with crop rotation (95.0%) and contour farming (85.0%) as the commonly adopted methods, while the least practice method was zero tillage (1.3%). The study further revealed that the most effective soil conservation practice as identified by majority of the farmers in the study area was crop rotation. The empirical result from the Probit regression analysis shows that years of farming experience, educational level, land size and farm income had positive and significant effect on the level of adoption of soil conservation practices in the study area. It is therefore recommended that extension agents should create more awareness on different types, methods and techniques of soil conservation practices available to increase the farmer’s level of adoption and boost arable crop production. Appropriate subsidy system and training are urgently needed to improve farmers’ adoption of soil conservation practices.