An assessment of the use of Agrochemicals among small - scale farmers in Esanland, Nigeria.

Abstract

Raising farmer’s productivity has been recognized as a sustainable route to food security in Africa. Therefore, making pest control less arduous would enable the farmer’s increase farm size and productivity. To this end, a survey was conducted in the 2012 farming season to determine the use of agrochemicals by farmers in Esan land, Edo State, Nigeria. Structured questionnaires were administered to farmers in the five local government areas that made up Esan land. The survey showed that most of the farmers were male (78 %) within the age of 36 – 55 (52.4 %) and 40.7 % were secondary school dropouts. Most of the farmers surveyed owned an average of 1 to 2 ha of farm land and 65 % used agrochemical products while 46% of agrochemical users used herbicide for weed control. Most farmers (88%) used between 1 - 3 Litres of various herbicidal products. Limited access to credit facilities was the major constraint to herbicide usage in Esanland. Farmers are therefore encouraged to organize themselves into cooperative societies to enable them attract incentives while Edo state government should subsidies procurement of agrochemical products.