Abstract
The study analyzed the emerging land rights and the extent of the relationship between agricultural and extension education and soil conservation practices. A survey of 376 household heads randomly sampled respondents was administered using a well-structured questionnaire. Results from correlation analysis revealed that the relationship between "agricultural and extension education" and the soil conservation variables "mulching, zero tillage, and the use of crop residues or household refuse" was positive, moderate in strength, and statistically significant. However, the relationship between "agricultural and extension education" and "slash and burn agriculture" was negative, moderate in strength, and statistically significant. The results from the linear probability model show that the coefficients of "Agricultural and Extension education" are statistically significant at a 1% level of significance for all the model specifications except the case where "organic fertilizer" is used as the dependent variable. Specifically, the results indicate that Agricultural and Extension education increases the probability of farmers practising mulching, use of crop or household residues, and zero tillage by 59.4, 16.1, and 33.6 percentage points, respectively. Also, Agricultural and Extension Education decreases the probability of farmers practising slash and burn agriculture by about 16.2 percentage points. Agricultural and Extension education increases the probability of farmers practising at least two of the soil conservations by 25 percentage points, while it increases the probability of farmers practising at least three of those soil conservations by 5.5 percentage points. Based on the results, we propose the Agricultural and Extension Education for Sustainability approach. This approach consists of knowledge, skills, motivation, awareness, concern, responsibility, and action. Therefore, policies geared towards agricultural and extension services should be highly prioritized.
Highlights
Development often aims at providing greater freedom, opportunity, and improved well-being to humanity by increasing access and availability to services such as food, water, energy, transportation, and economic opportunities (George, 2019; Sen, 2014)
Out of the 622 farm plots, 78.46% belong to the customary land tenure, while 11.58% and 9.96% were of the leasehold and freehold land tenure, respectively
0.56% of the 11.58% who applied fertilizer used organic fertilizer compared to 11.01% that used chemical fertilizer
Summary
Development often aims at providing greater freedom, opportunity, and improved well-being to humanity by increasing access and availability to services such as food, water, energy, transportation, and economic opportunities (George, 2019; Sen, 2014). In the drive to meet legitimate consumption demands, long-term impacts on the economy, human populations, health, and ecological systems are often overlooked or inadequately considered (Adu, Puthenkalam, & Antwi, 2021; Puthenkalam, 2013). Agricultural-led and industrial-led growth theories and their relationship with the environment have led to human-induced environmental change, causing 29% of total carbon dioxide emission, according to the IPCC (2019). An expansion on the interplay of agricultural-led and industrial-centred theories and their relationship with the environment has resulted in land degradation, casting doubts on sustainable development. Despite the increase in environmental awareness, land degradation continues to deny farmers improved well-being.
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