Abstract

The study was carried out to examine the willingness to practice conservative agriculture among arable crop farmers in Ona Ara Local Government Area of Oyo state, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 110 respondents from the study area and data were collected through a well-structured questionnaire. The data was analyzed through descriptive statistics and inferential statistics (Chi-square and Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC). The study revealed that most (64.5%) of the respondents were male with mean age of 48 years. Also, 49.1% had household size of 7-9 members, 78% were married with 48.2% having farming years of experience of 6-10 years and earned mean monthly income of ₦109,000. The result further revealed that majority (58.2%) of the respondents had favourable perception and 70.9% were willing to practice conservation agriculture. Lack of appropriate conservation tools (1.6), inadequate conservation agriculture training (1.6) and limited availability of quality seed (1.3) were identified as constraints to conservation agriculture practices. Chi square analysis revealed that age (χ²= 17.225, p= 0.008), education (χ²= 6.513, p= 0.037), marital status (χ²= 20.165, p= 0.003) and household size (χ²= 26.234, p= 0.001) had significant relationship with willingness to practice conservation agriculture. Also, PPMC analysis revealed that significant relationship existed between respondents’ perception of conservation agriculture practices (r= 0.059, p= 0.05) and willingness to practice conservation agriculture. Therefore, it is recommended that the training support and sensitization programmes on conservation agriculture in order to promote and improve on current practices of farmers.

Keywords: Willingness, Conservation Agriculture, Perception, Practice