- 期刊
- OpenAccess
Pattern of Inorganic Fertilizer use among Food Crop Farmers in Ogun State, Nigeria
並列摘要
If the world's 1.5 billion ha of farm land were farmed organically, enough food would be available for only about 2.4 billion people, leaving more than half the world's 6.5 billion people without food. Improved use of inorganic fertilizer has been adjudged as a possible solution to food insecurity in Nigeria. This study seeks to analyse the pattern of inorganic fertilizer use among the food crop farmers in Ogun State, Nigeria. A multistage sampling procedure was employed to select 554 food crop farmers from 88 farming communities in 44 cells, within 14 blocks of the four zones of the agricultural landscape of Ogun State, structured by the Ogun State Agricultural Development Programme (OGADEP). Data were analysed using descriptive techniques. Results show that only a quarter (25.6%) of the sampled farmers used fertilizer during the cropping season, at an average of 28 kg per farmer per year and 21 kg/ha of land cultivated. The analysis of difference of means shows that the average quantity of fertilizer used by food crop farmers varies with respect to sex, level of education, extension contacts, crop-mix, and use of tractor services, herbicides, insecticides as well as farm size and fragmentation.