Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Fifty producers were randomly selected from each of the nine clusters to give a total sample
size of four hundred and fifty respondents for the study.
Data for this study was generated from primary sources based on the objective of the study.
Interview schedule was used to elicit information from the respondents. The questionnaire
consisted of 14 organic farming practices in southwestern Nigeria from which the respondents
indicated use and non-use. These practices are crop rotation, application of compost, mulching
of crops, inter cropping, mixed cropping, crop residues, cover crop, animal manure, organic
fertilizer, bio control, natural insect predator. A split half technique was used to determine the
reliability coefficient with a reliability coefficient of 0.85. The questionnaire was face validated
by panel of experts on agricultural extension, agronomist and organic agricultural researcher.
The panel consisted of lecturers in agricultural extension and Agronomy. The study took into
account the ethical consideration which was addressed through, voluntary participation. Data
were analyzed with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 18.0 using means and
standard deviation.
4. Results and discussions
Table 1 shows a list of 14 organic agriculture practices from which the respondents were asked
to indicate their use or otherwise using a 2 ponit scale of Yes (2) and No(1). The actual mean
is 1.5 due to the rating scale and a mean of greater than 1.5 denoted a use while a mean less
than 1.5 denoted non-use. The mean scores of 11 out of 14 practices were above the actual mean
which implies the use of these organic agriculture practices. These technologies are: minimum
tillage, crop rotation, sanitation, intercropping, green manure, cover crop, fire, compositing,
organic fertilizer, animal manure, and mulching. The results revealed the most prominent
organic agriculture practices were minimum tillage (1.81, SD=0.9); crop rotation (1.80, SD=0.7)
and mulching (1.79, SD=0.6). With respect to the use of minimum tillage, it is the practice that
minimises the disturbance of the soil. The soil is not tilled intensively thereby improving the
soil structure. It is a cultivation operation whereby soil is disturbed as little as possible to
produce crop. Mulch residue from the previous crop is left on the soil surface which aids in
retarding weed growth, conserving moisture, and controlling erosion. Therefore, the practice
of minimum tillage is a common operation among the farmers that is usually carried out in
order to prepare the soil before planting exercise. Baldwin (2006) noted that many organic
farmers typically manage weeds mechanically and, therefore, cannot focus on building soil
structure in the same way as conservational tillage practitioners which often relies on herbi‐
cides for weed control. Instead, organic farmers use innovative practices such as crop rotations,
green manuring, and biological pest control to improve the soil structure and conserve soil
organic carbon.
Crop rotation as one of the practices can be attributed to the use of indigenous knowledge,
where farmers' belief that soil needs rest and some measure should be put in place to ensure
soil maintenance and fertility. One of such measures is bush fallowing whereby a farmland
that have been cultivated for some number of years is left uncultivated for few years in order
