SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES AND RELATED PROBLEMS AMONG RICE FARMING HOUSEHOLDS IN KWARA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Farmers in Nigeria are unpredictable unlike other developing countries where a good agronomic practices are used for a sustainable increase in rice production as result, the demand for rice consumption far overweighs rice production. This study presented empirical findings on the sustainable agricultural practices and its constraints among the rice farming households in one selected state of Nigeria. The study utilized primary data collected in 2019 using a four stage random sampling techniques. A total sample of 150 rice farmers was collected with the use of descriptive statistics, Likert-type scale and multinomial logistic regression model for analysis. The result indicates that the recommended sustainable agricultural practices (SAP) least adopted were the use of High Yielding Variety seed and agrochemicals probably due to their high cost. The factors that influences the full usage of SAP in rice farming were farm size, level of education, farming experience, extension contact and access to credit. Also, farm size and access to credit also influenced the partial usage of SAP. The major constraints limiting the usage were high cost of fertilizers, high cost of improved seed and unavailability agrochemicals. The study recommends that extension agents should visit local farmers more often and carry out more demonstrations on the usage of SAP.