Socio-Economic Factors and Integrated Pest Management Utilization among Cocoa Farmers in Edo State

Academic Journal of Plant Sciences 5 (1): 07-11, 01 ISSN 1995-8986 IDOSI Publications, 01 DOI: 10.589/idosi.ajps.01.5.1.316 Socio-Economic Factors and Integrated Pest Management Utilization among Cocoa Farmers in Edo State 1 1 E.O. Uwagboe, L.A. Akinbile and O.O. Oduwole 1 Extension Section, Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria, Ibadan, Nigeria Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria Abstract: Pests and diseases have largely contributed to the declining productivity of cocoa in Nigeria. For example, about 5-30% loss in yield of cocoa has been attributed to the cocoa mirid, Sahlbergella singularis while about17% is lost through the feeding of the cocoa pod borer Characoma strictigrapta. Losses attributable to the major disease of cocoa the black pod disease caused by Phytophtora megakarya range from 30-90%. Cocoa farmers have been trained on the use of Integrated Pest Management to control pests. The main objective of this study was to determine effect of socio-economic factors on Integrated pest Management (IPM) utilization. Information was collected on farmers personal characteristics and IPM utilisation. This study was carried out in Edo state and 60 cocoa farmers were randomly selected with systematic random sampling technique from the list of 100 trained farmers picking every respondent at interval of 3, 4 and 5. Questionnaire was administered to elicit information from the farmers. The results revealed that 90.0% of the farmers were males who were in their prime age and 73.3% had formal education. Utilisation of IPM was high (75.0%) which signifies that most of the farmers have adopted the technique. There was significant relationship between sex (X =5.4545, p<0.05), Education (X =11.4190, p<0.05), cocoa farmers membership of association (X =7.163, p<0.05) and IPM utilisation. This shows that sex, education and membership of association contributes to farmers high utilisation of IPM. Cocoa farmers in the study area need to be organized into a virile and functional association/cooperative, to encourage the use of IPM technique. Education of young farmers can also be facilitated through this association/cooperative while female farmers should also be sensitized through training as agent of change in dissemination of information on the use of IPM. Key words: Integrated pest management Cocoa farmers Knowledge Utilization INTRODUCTION Nigeria was among the leading cocoa producing nations until oil discovery in early 1970s. This trend Cocoa was introduced into Nigeria in 1874 and it changed when oil was discovered in the early 70s and till plays a significant role in the country s economy [1]. date, attention given to agricultural sector and cocoa The contributions of cocoa to the nation s economic industry in particular is grossly inadequate. Cocoa development are vast and have been reported by many production over the years has declined due to neglect authors [-5]. In terms of foreign exchange earnings, no suffered by agricultural sector. Cocoa, mostly produced single agricultural export commodity has earned more from obsolete varieties and old trees, is stagnant at than cocoa. In addition, it is an important source of raw around 50,000 tons annually; 5 years ago it was 300,000 materials, as well as source of revenue to governments of tons [6]. Decline in cocoa production especially in Nigeria cocoa producing states. The government in an effort to is due to the incidences of pests and diseases among increase national output distributed 6 million seedlings other factors [7]. of cocoa in year 000 to farmers for new plantings Pests and diseases have largely contributed to the throughout the 14 cocoa producing States in Nigeria. The States are Ondo, Ogun, Osun, Oyo, Ekiti. Kwara and declining productivity of cocoa in Nigeria. For example, about 5-30% loss in yield of cocoa has been attributed to Kogi. Other states include Edo, Delta, Abia, Cross River, the cocoa mirid, Sahlbergella singularis, while about Adamawa, Taraba and Akwa- Ibom. 17% is lost through the feeding of the cocoa pod borer Corresponding Author: E.O. Uwagboe, Extension Section, Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria, Ibadan, Nigeria. Mob: +34-08055447597. 7

Acad. J. Plant Sci., 5 (1): 07-11, 01 Characoma strictigrapta. Losses attributable to the major their prime age and would be ready to adopt IPM..[1] disease of cocoa the black pod disease caused by reported that age may have effect on the information Phytophtora megakarya range from 30-90% [8, 9]. sources on a particular technology. In response to these infestations of cocoa trees some farmers neglected their farms and shifted focus to other Sex of Respondents: The results presented in Table 1 crops. This behaviour adversely affected cocoa industry; revealed that male respondents were 90.0%, while females in the area of yield, marketing and price of cocoa hence were 10.0%. This is an indication that more males are most cocoa plantation in Nigeria is characterized by the involved in cocoa farming than the females in the study presence of old and infested cocoa trees having very low area. This finding shows that cocoa farming is dominated yield [10,11]. Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN) by males. This could be due to the limitations women has developed various pest management techniques for have in acquiring land for tree crops cultivation in Nigeria. the purpose of using more cultural methods and reduction [13] reported that rural women farmers are constrained in pesticides control. Most of those who attempt to by social and institutional factors including access to explain the adoption of IPM in Nigeria base their information on credit, inputs, modern technologies, assertions on subjective beliefs about the conventional training, education and land ownership. These factors practices of smallholder farmers and not on analytical limit rural women s ability to improve agricultural evidence. Therefore, an empirical description regarding production and the well being of their families. factors affecting IPM utilisation is necessary. Respondents Membership of Associations: All the farmers Objectives: This study assessed the effect of socio- interviewed from the STCP/IITA Farmers Field School economic factors on IPM utilisation in the study area. belonged to farmers association. Data in Table 1 revealed The specific objectives are to: that the respondents belonged to the following Associations; 46.7% belong to Cocoa Association of Ascertain selected personal characteristics of cocoa Nigeria (CAN), 36.67% to Cocoa Farmers Association of farmers in the study area, Nigeria (CFAN), 16.6% to Cocoa Growers Association of Determine the respondents level of IPM utilisation Nigeria (COGAN). This implies that most of the farmers have potential to gain access to information through their Hypothesis 1: There is no significant relationship between associations. According to.. [14] cooperatives are the respondents personal characteristics and IPM utilisation. best-suited institutions for suitable information related to economic and agricultural development of farmers. MATERIALS AND METHODS Membership of association/cooperative enhances group effort and reduces cost of information dissemination. Edo state was purposively selected as one of the There is also group influence on members in the adoption cocoa producing states in Nigeria, where IITA/STCP of recommended practices trained farmers on IPM. This study was carried out in Edo state and 60 cocoa farmers were randomly selected with Educational Qualification of Respondents: Fig. 1 systematic random sampling technique from the list of 100 illustrated that 73.3% of the respondents had formal trained farmers picking every respondent at interval of education which could increase their ability to receive five. Structured questionnaire was used to elicit information on IPM since they are educated. Generally, information from the respondents which were presented education is thought to create a favourable mental with charts, frequency, percentages and analysed with attitude for the acceptance of new practices, especially of Chi-square information-intensive and management-intensive practices [15]. IPM is frequently stated to be a complex RESULTS AND DISCUSSION technology [16, 17]. Age of Respondents: Age is a factor that affects adoption and also a primary latent characteristic in adoption decisions. Table 1 reveals that 81.7% of the respondents are between the age range of 41 and 60 years with a mean age of 50.8 which indicates that most of them are still in Level of Ipm Utilisation by Respondents: The level of IPM utilisation was categorized by assigning scores to each IPM technique based on the number of times such practice was carried out in a year and all the scores were cumulated to get the mean which was used to categorise 8

Acad. J. Plant Sci., 5 (1): 07-11, 01 Table 1: Selected socio-economic characteristics of the respondents Socio-economics characteristics Frequency Percentage Mean age Age 4 6.7 50.8 1-40 49 81.7 41-60 7 11.6 >60 60 100.0 Total Sex 54 90.0 Males 6 10.0 Females 60 100.0 Total Cocoa farmers association.1. Cocoa Association of Nigeria(CAN) 8 46.7. Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria(CFAN) 36.7 3.Cocoa Growers Association of Nigeria(COGAN) 10 16.6 Total 60 100.0 Source: Field Survey, 008 Table : Respondents level of IPM utilisation IPM Utilisation categories Frequency Percentage Low users <39.4 15 5.0 High users >39.4 45 75.0 Total 60 100.0 Source: Field survey, 008 Mean = 39.4 Table 3: Chi-Square showing significant relationship between personal characteristics of the respondents and IPM utilisation Variables X DF P Decision Sex 5.4545 1 0.0195 S Education 11.4190 4 0.0 S Membership of Cocoa farmers Association 7.163 1 0.007 S Source: Field survey, 008 Significant at *0.05 level of probability 50 45 40 35 30 5 0 15 10 5 0 6.7 45 3.3 No formal Education Primary Secondary Tertiary Fig. 1: Distribution of educational status of respondents Source: Field survey, 008 the respondents into high user and low users. A minimum score of less than 39.4 is low user while above is considered high users. The result in Table revealed that most (75.0%) of the respondents were high users and 5 5.0% were low users. This implies that most of the respondents have more information on IPM techniques by using more cultural practices than use of pesticides...[18] reported that the advantages of cultural control include its low cost and it is within the reach of farmers. Also, with flexible extension support, it can be adopted by farmers with no drastic change in production system and it can also favour other control measures. Hypothesis 1: There is no significant relationship between respondents personal characteristics and IPM utilisation. Data in Table 3 revealed that significant relationship exists between sex (X =5.4545, p<0.05), Education (X =11.4190, p<0.05), cocoa farmers membership of association (X =7.163, p<0.05) and IPM utilisation. This implies that sex, education and membership of association are determinant of IPM utilisation. The gender relationship could be linked with the dominance of more males in cocoa farming in the study area. This result is supported by the findings of.[19] which found out that positive coefficient on the gender variable indicates that males were more likely to adopt celosia than females. Most of the farmers were educated which could reduce the complexity of IPM technology, as reported by [0] that education is thought to reduce the amount of complexity perceived in a technology, thereby increasing a technology s adoption. Membership of association influences their access to agricultural inputs to practice IPM as reported by [1] that lack of strong and articulate farmers associations have caused a critical bottleneck to sustainable and more equitable cocoa development. Also, this result is similar to the study of [] that age, level of Education and family size were the major determinants of efficiency of Cocoa farmers in Ondo State, Nigeria. 9

Acad. J. Plant Sci., 5 (1): 07-11, 01 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 8. Fasina, A.B., 1999. Sustainable tree crop development to support the manufacturing sector to Most of the farmers were males who were in their boost Nigeria s foreign exchange earnings. Paper prime age and some had formal education which presented at Ebun Industries Ltd. International influenced their level of IPM utilization. There was Seminar on Support for Manufacturing to boost Nonsignificant relationship between sex, education and oil Export Earnings Using Agricultural Raw Materials, membership of association and IPM utilisation. held at Abuja Sheraton Hotels and Towers, Abuja, Cocoa farmers in the study area need to be organized pp: 11. into cooperatives/association to encourage the use of 9. Ndubuaku, T.C.N., K.T.M. Ojelade, E.U. Asogwa and IPM techniques. Women need to be sensitized to J.C. Anikwe, 003. Reports and recommendations on participate in cocoa farming and the level of utilization the evaluation of Pulmic System PM 10 Knapsack should be sustained in the study area. Use of Farmers sprayer for protection of cocoa farms in Nigeria. Field School should be adopted by CRIN in order to train Tech. Rep. CRIN, Ibadan, Nigeria, pp: 5. more farmers on various technologies that have been 10. Vos, J.M. and U. Krauss, 004. Working with farmers. developed. Cocoa futures. A source book of some important issues controlling the cocoa industry. Flood J, REFERENCES Murphy R Eds. Feriva SA Cali Columbia CABI Commodities. An Initiative of CABI Bioscience. 1. Ayoola, B., K.B. Fasina and P. Aikpokpodion, 000. Colombia. The Commodities Press. Chapter, 1: 141- Development of Nigeria cocoa industry. Current 149. issues and challenges for research and production. 11. Ojo, A., 005. Relections on the Nigerian Cocoa Proceedings of the th 13 International Cocoa Economy. Precious Pearls Books, Akure, Nigeria. pp: Conference Sabah: Malaysia. pp: 1367-1373. 19.. Olayide, S.O., 1969. Some estimates of supply and 1. Adesiina, A.A. and J. Baidu-Forson, 1995. Farmers demand elasticities for selected commodities in Perceptions and Adoption of New Agricultural Nigeria s foreign trade, Journal of Business and Technology: Evidence From Analysis in Burkina Social Studies, 1(9): 176-193. Faso and Guinea, West Africa. Journal of 3. Olayemi, J.K., 1973. Some economic characteristics of Agricultural Economics. 13: 1-9. peasant agriculture in the cocoa belt of Western 13. Adeogun, S.O., J.E. Olawoye and L.A. Akinbile, 010. Nigeria, Bulletin of Rural Economics and Sociology, Information sources to cocoa farmers on cocoa 1: 4-30. rehabilitation techniques (CRTs) in selected states of 4. Abang, S.O., 1984. Stabilization policy: An economic Nigeria. Journal Media and Communication Studies, analysis and evaluation of its implication for Nigerian (1): 9-15. Cocoa farmers, PhD Thesis, Oklahoma State 14. Waller, B.E., C.W. Hoy, J.L Henderson. B. Stinner University, Stillwater. and C. Welty, 1998. Matching Innovations with 5. Folayan, J.A., G.A. Daramola and A.E. Oguntade Potential Users: A Case Study of Potato IPM 006. Structure and performance evaluation of cocoa practices. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment. marketing institutions in South-Western Nigeria: An 7003-15. economic analysis. Journal of Food, Agriculture and 15. Pimentel, D., 1991. C.R.C. Handbook of Pest Environment, 4(): 13-18. nd Management in Agriculture, Vol. 1, Edition. CRC 6. Wikipedia, 009. Economy of Nigeria. Available Press, Boca Raton, FL. online at http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/economy_of_ 16. Boahene, K., T.A.B. Snijders, H. Folmer, 1999. An Nigeria Integrated Socio-Economic Analysis of Innovation 7. Anikwe, J.C., 009. Evaluation of Field Damage Adoption: The case of Hybrid Cocoa in Ghana. and Chemical Control of Outbreak of Journal of Polic1Modeling, 1(): 167-184. Sahlbergella Singularis Haglund in a Cocoa 17. Heong, K.L. and M.M. Escalada, 1997. Pest Plantation in Ibadan, Nigeria. Am. Eurasian J. Management of Rice Farmers in Asia (Manila: Sustain. Agric., 3(1): 19-3 International Rice Research Institute), pp: 45. 10

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