Cropping system analysis of two agro ecological zones of Southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

Proper understanding of cropping system within agro ecological zone is needed if adequate agricultural development programme will be planned. Therefore, the study looked into the cropping systems practiced by farmers in Southwestern Nigeria, described the cropping system and crop combination of farmers and also described and compared the socio-economic characteristics of farmers in the agro ecological zones studied. Ogun (derived savannah zone) and Osun States (forest zone) were purposively sampled while multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 298 farmers in both States. Structured interview schedule consisting of open and close ended questionnaire in addition to focus group discussion was used to quantify the socio-economic status of the farmers. The average age of farmers in the two agro ecological zones were 45.00 ± 3.24 and 48.00 ± 2.98 for forest and derived savannah zones respectively. The average year of formal education of the farmers were 6.00 ± 2.74 years and 7.00 ± 2.11 years for the forest and derived savannah zones respectively. Also, the average farm size of the respondents was 0.52 ± 0.17 ha and 0.47 ± 0.13 ha for forest and derived savannah zones, respectively. There was a significant difference between the farm sizes of farmers in the two agro ecological zones (P ≤ 0.01). About 43.00 and 34.00% apiece of respondents in forest and derived savannah zones practiced arable plus permanent crop farming system. Mixed cropping was the most preferred cropping system in the forest zone while mixed cropping and crop rotation were the dominant cropping systems in the derived savannah zone. The study therefore, concluded that cereal/tuber crop combination is the most practiced among farmers in the two agro ecological zones in Southwestern Nigeria which may affect the final productivity of the available land as the two crops combination depletes soil nutrient.