Gender capacity building needs on soil fertility management practices among smallholder arable crop farmers in Kwara State, Nigeria
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Date
2017
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Journal of Saudi Society of Agricultural Sciences King Saud University, Saudi Arabia.
Abstract
Poor soil fertility management practices are major reasons for slow growth in food production among
smallholder farmers of sub-Saharan Africa including Nigeria. This study therefore assessed gender capac ity building needs on soil fertility management practices among smallholder arable crop farmers in
Kwara State, Nigeria. A structured interview guide was used to elicit information from six hundred
and fifty (650) respondents using three-stage sampling technique. Data collected were described using
descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentages, mean, standard deviation, charts and analysed using
correlation and Borich model. The study revealed that mean age of the male farmers was 49 years while
that of the female farmers was 45 years. Majority of the respondents (97.8% male and 76.7% female) were
married, 49.8% male and 42.7% female respectively had one form of formal education or the other; capac ity building were perceived to be mostly needed in the areas of crop rotation (MWDS = 0.0102) for male
and organic manuring (MWDS = 0.0082) for female farmers; and major constraints to both male and
female farmers involvement in soil fertility management practices were limited income (male x = 3.65,
female x = 3.50) and high cost of management (male x = 3.58, female x = 3.54). The study concluded both
male and female smallholder arable crop farmers require capacity building on soil fertility management
practices but female farmers required more than their male folks. It is therefore recommends an urgent
need to intensify capacity building for farmers on soil fertility management practices by the extension
agents especially where the capacity building is importantly needed in order to improve their knowledge
and productivity.
Description
Keywords
Gender Capacity building Soil fertility management practices
Citation
Daudu, A.K., et al. Gender capacity building needs on soil fertility management practices among smallholder arable crop farmers in Kwara State, Nigeria. Journal of the Saudi Society of Agricultural Sciences (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jssas.2017.06.003