Farmers’ Awareness And Use Of Land Management Practices In Oyo State: Implications For Sustainability Of Agricultural Production In Nigeria
Environment is a vital factor in the survival of man and essential development evolves from people’s increasing ability to utilize the environment and its resources in the production of needed goods and services. This study assessed farmers’ awareness and use of land management practices in Oyo State. All the respondents were aware of one form of land management practice based on the list of items provided. The result exposed the fact that, the respondents depended mostly on interpersonal contact with extension agents (50 %) and friends (34 %), than other sources of information such as electronic media (12.8 %) and
printed media (2.2 %). Lack of capital to purchase the farm input and weather as well as problems of pests and diseases were observed to be major constraints to compliance to land management practices. Education (χ2 = 5.21; p = 0.05) however, was found to be significantly related to awareness of the respondents on land management practices. Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) showed a significant correlation between sources of information and awareness of land management practices (r = 0.642; P = 0.00). In addition, there was a significant correlation between awareness and use of land management practices (r = 0.422; P = 0.00). Therefore, more awareness should be created to these farmers of the importance of land management for the sustainability of agriculture and environment using different media.
Keywords: Farmers, land degradation, awareness, land management practices, utilization,