Determinants of adoption of multiple sustainable agricultural practices among smallholder farmers in Nigeria

Publication history: Accepted - 28 October 2020; Published online - 3 November 2020.Despite the important roles of Sustainable Agricultural Practices (SAPs) in improving productivity, welfare, and food security of farming households, the adoption rates of SAPs have been perceived to be generally low, especially in developing countries. Using cross-sectional data collected from the 2015 Nigeria General Household Survey, this study examines the factors influencing the adoption of multiple SAPs, while also considering the drivers of the intensity of adoption of these practices. The methods of data analysis are based on the Multivariate probit and the Ordered probit models. The SAPs considered include improved seeds, inorganic fertilizer, mixed-cropping techniques, and organic manure. The empirical results show that farmers’ adoption of different SAPs and their intensity of use depend significantly on factors such as the age of household head, gender, education, household size, access to extension services, and household wealth status. Our findings imply that policymakers and agricultural development agencies should seek to maintain or increase household asset bases, and encourage both formal and informal training programme among farming households to facilitate the adoption of SAPs

Does agricultural cooperative membership impact technical efficiency of maize production in Nigeria: An analysis correcting for biases from observed and unobserved attributes

Publication history: Accepted - 31 December 2020; Published online - 22 January 2021The formation of agricultural cooperatives has been widely promoted as an agricultural development policy initiative to help smallholder farmers cope with multiple production and marketing challenges. Using a nationally representative survey dataset of smallholder maize producers from rural Nigeria, this study assesses the impact of agricultural cooperative membership on technical efficiency (TE). We based our estimation approach on the combination of a newly developed sample selection stochastic production frontier model with propensity score matching to control for possible selectivity biases from both observables and unobservables. We estimate stochastic meta-frontiers to examine TE differences between cooperative members and non-members. Our results reveal that TE levels of members are consistently higher than that of non-members. This calls for continued policy incentives targeted at encouraging farmers to form as well as participate in agricultural cooperatives

Willingness to adopt green house gas mitigation measures: Agricultural land managers in the United Kingdom

Rapid uptake of greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation measures is central to reducing agricultural and land use emissions and meeting the UK Net Zero policy. The socioeconomic challenges and barriers to uptake are poorly understood, with yet unclear structural pathways to the uptake of GHG mitigation measures. Using an online survey of 201 agricultural land managers across the UK, and applying multiple linear regression and stepwise regression analysis, this research established farm and farmers’ factors influencing perceptions and willingness to adopt GHG mitigation measures. The results consistently show that farm sector, farmers’ business perception, and labour availability influence willingness to adopt GHG mitigation measures. Based on the farmers’ qualitative feedback, other barriers to adoption include costs and concerns for profitability, lack of flexibility in land tenancy contracts, poor awareness and knowledge of the application of some GHG mitigation measures, perception about market demand e.g bioenergy crops, and scepticism about the future impacts of adopting varying GHG mitigation measures. In the midst of the ongoing net zero transition, this study identifies existing barriers to the uptake of GHG mitigation measures, and specifically, a substantial gap between farmers and the science of GHG mitigation measures and the need to incentivise a farm and farming community-led policy interventions to promote adoption of GHG mitigation measures

Adoption of drought-tolerant maize varieties and interrelated climate smart agricultural practices in Nigeria

Background: In Sub-Saharan Africa, drought is one of the prevailing climatic conditions that has led to the modification of improved seeds to be resilient enough to improve yield and increase farm households' welfare. However, like most climate-smart agricultural practices, the adoption of drought-tolerant maize varieties is low. This study examines the simultaneous adoption decisions of drought tolerant maize varieties and other climate-smart agricultural practices such as intercropping, row-planting, inorganic fertiliser, manure, and residue incorporation using nationally representative survey data from 1,370 rural households in Nigeria. Multivariate Tobit and ordered probit models are applied to assess the complementarity and or substitutability effect among CSAPs, the predictors of the joint adoption, and the adoption intensity of CSAPs. Results: The results show a significant positive correlation between DTMVs & inorganic fertilisers, DTMVs and intercropping, and DTMVs and manure. However, the strongest adoption complementarity is found between DTMVs and manure. The probability and the extent of adoption of CSAPs are commonly determined by household wealth, access to loans, access to training in improved production practices, and membership in input supply and farm cooperatives. Conclusion: The study suggests that the adoption of DTMVs has varying degrees of relations with other CSAPs informing the need for policies aimed at increasing its adoption to consider existing CSAPs among maize farm households

Does simultaneous adoption of drought tolerant maize varieties and manure impact productivity and welfare outcomes? Evidence from rural Nigeria

Poor soil fertility and drought are among the major challenges limiting maize productivity in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Improved maize varieties and chemical fertilisers are widely promoted in SSA, however, unsustainable use of chemical fertilisers has huge implications for soil degradation. The synergies between improved maize varieties and sustainable land use management practices such as manure are poorly documented, despite the role of manure in enhancing long-term sustainability of soil organic matter which is critical for addressing poor soil fertility. Employing a nationally representative maize household survey in Nigeria, this study utilises multivalued inverse probability weighting (MIPWRA), entropy balancing and multinomial endogenous switching regression (MESR) model to determine the impacts of the adoption of combinations of drought-tolerant maize varieties (DTMVs) and manure on farm households’ productivity and welfare outcomes (per capita total expenditure and per capita food expenditure). The estimation results of the average treatment effects, when farm households’ observables and unobservables are corrected for, show that the highest pay-off on productivity and welfare outcomes is achieved when DTMVs and manure are jointly adopted. This study also finds that wealth indicators, access to loans, and access to extension services play a significant role in driving both individual and combinatory packages of DTMVs and manure. Overall, this study concludes that simultaneous adoption of DTMVs and manure can enhance agricultural productivity and welfare for rural farmers and significantly contribute to the achievement of sustainable agricultural practices among maize farm households

Does simultaneous adoption of drought-tolerant maize varieties and organic fertiliser affect productivity and welfare outcomes? Evidence from rural Nigeria

The promotion of improved maize varieties and chemical fertilisers underscores many policy approaches addressing multiple production risks such as poor soil fertility and drought. However, the unsustainable use of chemical fertilisers has important implications for soil degradation. The synergies between improved maize varieties and sustainable land use management practices such as the use of organic fertilisers (e.g., manure) are poorly documented, despite the role of manure in enhancing soil organic matter. Employing nationally representative household survey data in Nigeria, this study utilises multivalued inverse probability weighted regression adjustment, entropy balancing and a multinomial endogenous switching regression model to determine the effects of the adoption of drought-tolerant maize varieties (DTMVs) and organic fertiliser on farm households' productivity, per capita total expenditure and per capita food expenditure. Controlling for farm households' observables and unobservables, the estimation results of the average treatment effects show that the highest pay-off on productivity and welfare outcomes is achieved when DTMVs and manure are jointly adopted. Also, wealth indicators, access to loans and access to extension services significantly influenced individual and combinatory packages of DTMVs and manure application adoption. This study underlines the significance of the joint adoption of DTMVs and manure application on rural farmers' productivity and welfare and a substantial contribution to achieving sustainable agricultural practices

Impact of Climate Change Adaptation on Household Food Security in Nigeria—A Difference-in-Difference Approach

Studies have shown that climate change adaptation options (CCA) are implemented to buffer the unfavorable climatic changes in Nigeria causing a decline in food security. Against the background of measuring the impact of CCA options using cross-sectional data, this study assessed how CCA had affected food security using panel data on farming households from 2010–2016 obtained from Nigerian General Household Survey (GHS). Data were analyzed using the Panel probit model (PPM), Propensity Score Matching (PSM), and Difference-in-Difference (DID) regression. PPM showed that the probability of adopting CCA options increased with farm size (p p p p p p p p p p p < 0.01). It was recommended that education and provision of quality advisory services to farmers is crucial to foster the implementation of CCA options