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Abstract
The study carried out an assessment of agricultural land management
practices in food crops production among small
scale farmers in Kwara Sate, Nigeria. Specifically, the study
determined the socio economic characteristics of crop farmers in
Kwara State; ascertained the cropping patterns common among
them; highlighted the soil conservation methods adopted by the
farmers; examined the relationship between selected socio-economic
characteristics of the farmers and their adoption of major agricultural
land management practices; and investigated the constraints to
adoption of sustainable agricultural practices among crop farmers
in Kwara State, Nigeria A three stage random sampling technique
was used in selecting a total of one hundred and forty four small
scale food crops farmers. Descriptive statistics, binary logistic regression
model and four point Likert-type scale were used to
analyse the data for the study. The study revealed that food crops
production in Kwara State is dominated by middle aged men who
are poorly educated and have poor access to agricultural extension
services. Half of the respondents (48.60%) adopted cereal-based
cropping systems. 48.6% of the farmers adopted a minimum of
three management practices. Crop rotation was mostly adopted by
all the farmers while irrigation was the least adopted by only
29.3% of the respondents. Furthermore, the study revealed that
farm size, age, education status, number of contacts with extension
agents, household size and number of farm plots of the respondents
were the significant factors affecting their adoption of land management
practices. The study also revealed that the major constraints
to the use of sustainable crop management practices among the
farmers included inadequate supply of fertilizer, inadequacy of
labour and credit, poor knowledge of improved agricultural
practices, poor transportation, low produce prices and high cost of
production. The study recommended the need for training programme
on the use of appropriate sustainable practices that will take into
account the cropping systems adopted by the farmers.