Effects of Indigenous Farming Practices on Maize Production in Ondo State, Nigeria

Abstract

A lot of indigenous knowledge had been lost through the deaths of elderly persons since there is no formal documentation of such knowledge. Old pests and diseases are beginning to resurface due to cropping patterns and adverse climate change impacts. It is in view of this that the study examine the effects of indigenous farming practices on maize production in Ondo State, Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique was used to select 120 maize farmers in the study area. Data was collected using validated questionnaire and were analyzed using means, frequencies, percentages, chi-square and Pearson product moment correlation. Findings from the study revealed that majority (80.8 percent) of the farmers were males, (86.7 percent) above 50 years of age, (87.5 percent) married, (87.5 percent) had formal education, (64.2 percent) were Christians, (25.8) followed by Muslim and (10 percent) traditionalist. A large percentage (75.8 percent) received information on indigenous control methods from their parents and grandparents. The result from the study revealed that there was a significant association between marital status (χ² = 10.06, p < 0.04), religion (χ² = 8.05, p < 0.02), membership of social group (χ² = 14.31, p < 0.00) and the perceived effects of indigenous farming practices of the respondents. Similarly, findings revealed that there was a significant association between income (r = 0.45, p  0.05), farm size (r = 0.13, p  0.05), farming experience (r = 0.11, p  0.05) of the respondents and the perceived effects of indigenous farming practices. There was no significant relationship between extension visitation (χ² = 0.04, p  0.62) and farmers use of indigenous knowledge. There was no significant relationship between indigenous farming practices (r = 0.04, p  0.65) and farmers production practices.