Analysis of the relationship between the Socio-Economic Characteristics of Rice Farmers and Soil Management Practices in Abuja, Nigeria
Abstract
The study examined the analysis of the relationship between the Socio-Economic Characteristics of Rice Farmers and Soil Management Practices in Abuja. The study was conducted in rural communities in Abuja, Nigeria. Two objectives guided the study. The study adopted descriptive and logistic regression research design. Multistage sampling technique was employed to select the farming communities for the study. Twelve (12) agricultural wards (Chuwkuku, Gaube, Bamushin, kotunku, Pai, Dafa, Bako, Dobi, Paso, Chibiri, Gadabiu and Paikon) were randomly selected giving a total of thirty-six (36) agricultural wards. Five blocks were randomly picked from each of the agricultural wards making the total of 180. Lastly two (2) circles were randomly selected from each of the blocks resulting to three hundred and sixty (360) respondents who were randomly selected from the chosen circles. The results show that 58.06% of the respondents were male while 36.13% of the respondents were between the ages of 30 and 39years. Also, 47.74% of them were married with 40% of the respondents having an average of 5 people in their households. 61.94 had at most a national certificate of education (NCE). Majority (44.84) of the respondent had a farm size of between half a hectare and two hectares. The study recommended that manual tillage should be mostly carried out by rice farmer to improve the level of production and also soil rotation should be practiced where soil is much available to reduce the level of degradation.
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Introduction
Rice is a staple food in Nigeria, and the average consumption is 200kg/capita/year. However, rice productivity has declined dramatically in recent years due to incessant killing of smallholder farmers on the farmland. Food security can be reached by improving the technical efficiency of rice farming, especially in rice farming centers Nigeria. Prokopy et al. (2008) and Baumgart-Getz et al. (2012) argue that the key capacity variables considered to be important in influencing farmers’ adoption decisions include age, education (formal education and farmer [extension] training), income, farming experience, tenure, social networks, labor, capital and information. While both Prokopy et al. (2008) and Baumgart-Getz et al. (2012) use this concept (capacity) to combine both farmer and farm characteristics, most adoption literature separates them (Reimer et al. 2012; Meijer et al. 2015). In this study, we chose to adopt the latter categorization since one of the categories (farmer characteristics) relates to the management ability of the farmer, while the other category (farm characteristics) relates to farm resources (Chomba, 2004). Adoption literature of agricultural technologies posits that the decision to adopt technologies including Integrated Soil Management Fertility Management (ISFM) practices, is affected by both farmer and farm attributes (Meijer, et al., 2015). For instance, based on household size, households with more adults are more likely to adopt ISFM since many of the ISFM practices are labour intensive (Kassie, et al., 2013). As household size increases, the likelihood of adoption of ISFM practices is expected to be high.
Household heads are the final decision makers regarding choice of soil fertility practices and technologies. While most adoption studies have found a negative effect of age to adoption of soil conservation (Kassie et al. 2013) and others have found age to be insignificant. This implies that the influence of age on adoption of technologies is inconclusive and warrants a more nuanced study. In almost every adoption study, education of the farmer is considered to positively influence the farmer’slikelihood of adopting a new technology or practice because farmers with better education have more exposure to new ideas and information, and thus have better knowledge to effectively analyse and use available information (Kassie et al. 2011). While most studies consider education in terms of number of years of formal education, the categorization of education by Baumgart-Getz et al. (2012) seems more appropriate. In contrast to formal education, it reflects knowledge farmers attain through other means such as extension programs, workshops, and field days.
Important to adoption of soil fertility practices and technologies is farmers’ experience. As a farmer grows older, (s) he has generally been exposed to more ideas, information (Prokopy et al. 2008) and production practices thereby being more efficient and accurate in judgment of expected benefits (Kassie et al., 2015). This, in turn, facilitates the potential to adopt new technologies. A meta-analysis by Knowler and Bradshaw (2007) found that farmers’ experiences positively influence adoption soil conservation practices. However, other meta-analyses on the same parameter have found quite inconclusive results. For instance, Prokopy et al. (2008) reviewed adoption literature of best management practices within the US, and found farmers’ experience to have mixed results. Baumgart-Getz et al. (2012) found farming experiences were not significantly related to adoption, thus calling for further studies (Prokopy et al. 2008). 1.1 Household of Adoption of Soil Management for Rice Production We consider household wealth to include livestock ownership, farm size (acres) farming come and equipment. With respect to wealth, it is regularly theorized that adoption of any new technology requires sufficient financial well-being, particularly if new equipment is needed (Knowler, 2015; Knowler & Bradshaw, 2007). Several analyses of the role of income and farm profitability on adoption have revealed a positive influence (Baumgart-Getz et al. 2012; Knowler & Bradshaw 2007; Prokopy et al. 2008). In relation to ISFM in many developing countries, the presence of livestock plays a key role in adoption of animal manure since the animals not only contribute synergistic crop-animal production interaction, but, cattle and oxen can also be a source of draft power (Kassie, et al., 2013). Size of the farm (acreage) as a measure of physical capital has been found to be a best (financial) predictor of adoption (Baumgart-Getz et al. 2012) since it can be used as collateral to access credit for investments in soils.
Labour is a major production cost in agriculture. The lack of sufficient labour on the farm is theorized to impede the use of various soil fertility management practices (Kamau and Ayuo, 2013). In many developing countries, families continue to provide the bulk of farm labour for most farm operations because many households cannot afford to hire wage labourers. This implies that the lack of family labour coupled with family liquidity constraints to hiring labour greatly affect the adoption of ISFM practices. However, when addressing farm labour concerns, it is important to identify other community adaptive mechanisms through which labour is mobilized on farms. Mugwe et al. (2009) observed that farmers sometimes trade their labour for food or make reciprocal arrangements in which they pool their labour efforts together through their farmer-to-farmer local network systems and work on each other’sfields during peak labour requirement periods. This could help in ascertaining whether such labour arrangements favour adoption of specific soil fertility management practices at the expense of others within the package of ISFM. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to find out the relationship between the Socio-Economic Characteristics of Rice Farmers and Soil Management Practices in Abuja, Nigeria. The specific objectives of this study are to: Describes the socio-economic characteristics of rice farmers in the study area. Analysis the influence of farm size on effectiveness of soil management practices study area.
Conclusion
Considering the soil management practice of rice farmers in FCT, Abuja, there is the need to adopt good soil management measures like manual tillage and mechanical tillage that will improve the rice production. Minimum and zero tillage which preserve the land are not very advisable for rice production. The research has been able to identify gap and area of agreement, the finding of the study shows that the physical and chemical fragility is observed in some areas, minimum tillage was practice in some places where surface hoeing involving manual stirring of soil surface with hoe to the depth of about 4cm is normally done to conserve soil water, improve macro porosity, reduce bulk density and give better yield. In other places, Row (strip) tillage is done to improve on-zero tillage and control some problems associated with it, this is also done to conserve soil water. Manual heaping or ridging to conserve soil fertility and maintain high yield. In some areas the return of plant residues and mulching are used in place of fertilizer to increase the soil nutrients by farmers in Kuje, Gwagwalada and Kwali Area Council.
V. RECOMMENDATION Base on the peculiar soil management problems of the tropical soil, experience have shown that most soil have lost their fertility and better soil management of rice farming, the following recommendations are made: 1. Manual Tillage should be mostly carried out by rice farmer to improve the level of production. 2. Soil rotation should be practiced where soil is much available to reduce the level of degradation. 3. Organic farming should be practiced to reduce the application of chemical that will constitute hazard to the soil. 4. Cover cropping should be practiced to reduce the water loss from the soil surface and to prevent the direct effect of solar radiation the soil organic component.
