Attitude of women farmers towards sustainable land management practices in South-Western Nigeria

Abstract

This study explores female farmers' attitudes about environmentally sound land cultivation and management techniques in South-Western Nigeria and how their attitudes can affect food security issues. In this region it is getting increasingly difficult to feed the burgeoning population, because 70 percent of the economically productive population work in agriculture or industries related to agriculture. This study focuses on females' attitudes because within the last two decades women have taken dominant roles in agriculture. Data was collected using a multistage sampling model. In this area of Nigeria, called Ondo State, researchers first divided into two agricultural zones and then further divided into eighteen extension blocks. The researchers randomly selected 160 female farmers registered with the Agriculture Development Program. The socio-demographic results in Ondo State showed the mean age for female farmers to be 45.3 years, most female farmers work on personal land, and also that a majority (about 60 percent) are married. Results also showed that a large percentage of land is inherited and mixed cropping is the most popular cultivation method. In addition, twelve percent of female farmers also work in off farm processing. This study demonstrates that there was a positive correlation between attitude score and female farmers' adoption of land management techniques. Therefore, addressing and improving attitudes towards sustainable land management techniques can help address food insecurity issues.