Assessment of farmers’ perception of organic fertilizer usage in Ondo State, Nigeria

Abstract

The use of organic fertilizer can keep soil health and fertility sustainable. This use of organic fertilizer can be determined by farmers’ perception of organic fertilizer usage. This study therefore assessed the perception of organic fertilizer usage among farmers in Ondo State, Nigeria. Multistage sampling procedure was used to select 250 farmers and interview schedule was used to elicit information from the farmers on their demographic and social characteristics; awareness of organic fertilizer benefits; and perception of organic fertilizer usage. Data collected were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results show that 67.2 percent of the farmers had high awareness level of organic fertilizer benefits while 56.8 percent of the farmers had a favourable perception of organic fertilizer usage. The study also revealed that ethnicity (χ² = 38.174) and family type (χ² = 11.679) were associated with farmers’ perception of organic fertilizer usage. Also, age of farmers (β = - 0.110) and farmers’ awareness of organic fertilizer benefits (β = 0.686) were determinants of farmers’ perception of organic fertilizer usage at P≤0.05. The study concluded that farmers had favourable perception of organic fertilizer usage and recommended that extension agents should make farmers aware of the benefits of organic fertilizer.