Files
Abstract
This study assessed the structural effects of 2010 – 2015 fertilizer policy on crop farmers’ resource use in Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling technique was employed to select 120 respondents for the study. Results show that majority (52.50 %) of the household heads were within the age range of 31-50 years with a mean of 50 years. Males dominated the rural household heads in the study area with about 90% while 10% were females. Greater percentages of about 86.67% of the household heads were married while the remaining 13.33% were single, divorced or widowed. Majority (69.17%) of the household heads interviewed were literate with a mean of 8years. Majority (79.17%) of the respondents had farming as their major occupation while those with other occupations including farming were 20.83%. Majority of the respondents (56.67%) fell within the household size of 7-12 persons with a mean of 7 persons per household. Most of the farmers (55%)had about 10-20 years of farming experience, with a mean of 20 years. About 45% of the respondents owned land between 0-2ha in the study area with a mean of 3.14ha. Results on availability and timeliness of fertilizer supply to farmers before and during the policy period showed that government interventions on supply of fertilizer was accepted by farmers to be timely and readily available during the policy period than before the period. The chow test showed that there was a significant structural difference in resource use by farmers in the two periods. Productivity could be improved by expanding the farm size, increasing the quantity of seed, fertilizer use and increasing the level of labour while alternative sources agrochemicals to be employed by farmers in order to boost production.