Environment and Some Adopted Agronomic Practices- Grassroots’ Participation in Osun and Ondo States of Nigeria

Abstract

The effects of adoption of improved sustainable agricultural practices in crops by grassroots’ farmers were studied in Osun and Ondo States of Nigeria, among 30 large-scale commercial farmers in each state. Different types of sustainable practices namely organic agriculture (ORM); agri-horti-silviculture (AHS) and combined polyculture and permaculture (CPP), common to farmers in the area were evaluated. Different parameters measured were plant population of trees, estimated number of pods, time of fruiting/maturity, number of cobs/maize/bunch/leaves and others alike. Simple correlation, regression analysis, percentiles and one way-ANOVA statistic were used for data analysis. The results revealed that there was a significant effect (P < 0.05) of the different sustainable practices on the yield of the crops planted. Root and stalk lodging, flower/fruits abortions were high especially in the CPP and AHS plots than ORM. There were stronger relationships between independent variables, different sustainable practices and yields of maize with higher R2 value of 0.99. There was less than 5% awareness among farmers with such adoptable farm practices. Some diseases were not controllable as reported by 91.67% of the farmers. Also, 33.3% of the farmers concluded that tillage operations were delayed than before. There was significant (p< 0.05) effect of different adopted processes on the number of plants’ stand and on the number of crops that had fruits’ and flowers’ abortions. Various agronomic practices improve soil and farm operations with positive impact on farmers’ livelihood