Assessment of Farmers’ Soil Management Practices in Guinea Savannah Agro- Ecological Zone of Nigeria

Abstract

The study assessed farmers’ soil management practices in Karu LGA of Nasarawa State. A total of 112 questionnaires were distributed to farmers’ in the study area to ascertain the prevailing soil management practices and crop yields in the study area. The study reveals that most of the farmers’ in the study area practice tillage soil management practice (107) and zero tillage (102), compost (55) and mono cropping (9) are the least soil management practices in the study area, the correlation analysis shows a positive and significant relationship between crop yield (r = 0.905; p ≤ 0.05) and farmers’ soil management practice. The study therefore, recommends that farmers’ should practice retention of crop residues on the farms especially with respect to guinea corn and maize cropping, also more natural vegetation should be encouraged where trees like Faidherbia albida (apple ring accaia) an ideal agroforestry specie that can grow among field crops without shading them during the wet season can be planted.