Social Capital and Adoption of Alternative Conservation Agricultural Practices in South-Western Nigeria

Abstract

The major concern of most African countries, including Nigeria, in recent times is how to increase food production because of food insecurity issues, which by extension, is a major contributing factor to the prevalence of poverty. Therefore, adoption of conservation agricultural practices is regarded as a pathway to drive the achievement of food and nutrition security, as well as the needed optimal performance in the agri-food sector. Reportedly, scaling up of the limited adoption of these practices could be facilitated through kinship ties, peer influence, and social networks that govern mutual interactions among individuals; therefore, this motivated the study. Using cross-sectional data obtained from 350 sample units selected from South-Western Nigeria through a multistage sampling technique, this study applied descriptive statistical tools and cross-tabulation techniques to profile the sampled subjects while count outcome models were used to investigate the factors driving counts of conservative agriculture (CA) adoption. Similarly, a marginal treatment effects (MTEs) model (parametric approach) using local IV estimator was applied to examine the effects of CA adoption on the outcome (log of farmers’ farm income). Additionally, appropriate measures of fit tests statistics were used to test the reliabilities of the fitted models. Findings revealed that farmers’ years of farming experience (p < 0.1), frequency of extension visits (p < 0.05), and social capital viz-a-viz density of social group memberships (p < 0.05) significantly determined the count of CA practices adopted with varying degrees by smallholder farmers. Although, social capital expressed in terms of membership of occupational group and diversity of social group members also had a positive influence on the count of CA practices adopted but not significant owing largely to the “information gaps” about agricultural technologies in the study area. However, the statistical tests of the MTEs indicated that the treatment effects differed significantly across the covariates and it also varied significantly with unobserved heterogeneity. The policy relevant treatment effect estimates also revealed that different policy scenarios could increase or decrease CA adoption, depending on which individuals it induces to attract the expected spread and exposure.

Understanding the Interdependence and Temporal Dynamics of Smallholders’ Adoption of Soil Conservation Practices: Evidence from Nigeria

“…Second, we contribute to the literature by providing new insights on the temporal dynamics of smallholder maize farmers' adoption decisions in relation to soil conservation practices. In this regard, most previous studies, e.g., [13,24,[44][45][46], only focused on the adoption of soil conservation practices using a static framework, and in turn fail to account for temporal dynamics, which address complementarities and substitutability among different conservation practices adopted over time. Third, we use a spatial sampling framework that allows us to ensure a spatially representative sample of smallholder maize-based systems in the study area.…”

Voice of farmers in the agriculture crisis in North-East Nigeria

“…According to the Nigeria Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the essential bulk wheat import to export ratio is growing at an unsustainable 11 per cent annual rate (Omeje et al , 2019). The key national agri-business problem is that Nigerian agriculture production is too low to sustain national demand (Omeje et al , 2019; Osa-Afiana and Kelikume, 2016; Owutuamor and Arene, 2018; Tall et al , 2018) and there is a food insecurity crisis (Fawole and Ozkan, 2018; Obayelu et al , 2019; Olawuyi and Mushunje, 2019; Omotayo et al , 2018; Oparinde, 2019; Sule et al , 2019). Secondary agri-business problems include the lack of labor resources due to the Boko Haram insurgency (Lamboll et al , 2018), climate change impacts on farmland (Bosello et al , 2018; Chukwuji et al , 2019; Urama et al , 2019) and widespread corruption (Azih, 2008; CISLAC, 2017).…”

“…Nigeria is in an agriculture crisis due to several macro-environmental factors including Boko Haram terrorism, government corruption, climate change, civic disruption, inadequate infrastructure and low-quality production (Obayelu et al , 2019; Olawuyi and Mushunje, 2019; Omotayo et al , 2018; Strang et al , 2019; Tall et al , 2018, August; Uduji et al , 2019; Zhang et al , 2018). The crisis is longitudinal despite a large amount of humanitarian funding and foreign direct investment to fix the national macro-level problems (Adeola et al , 2018; Azih, 2008; Chukwuji et al , 2019; Fasona et al , 2016; Fawole and Ozkan, 2018; Olowogbon et al , 2019).…”

“…The problem is that the rural North-East Nigerian farmers’ voice is not heard as stakeholders strive to understand how to overcome the agriculture crisis. There are few documented solutions to the agriculture crisis (Abu and Soom, 2016; Awotide et al , 2019; Barnes et al , 2018; Fasona et al , 2016; Obayelu et al , 2019; Olawuyi and Mushunje, 2019; Omotayo et al , 2018; Tall et al , 2018, August). However, the rural Nigerian farmers’ needs are not adequately captured in published research as their perspectives have mostly been excluded from scholarly studies.…”

“…However, the rural Nigerian farmers’ needs are not adequately captured in published research as their perspectives have mostly been excluded from scholarly studies. The perspectives of rural Nigerian farmers may have been excluded in contemporary research due to socio-cultural and communication barriers including illiteracy, language and religious beliefs (Agbo and Isa, 2017; Awotide et al , 2019; Barnes et al , 2018; Daluba, 2013; Mafimisebi et al , 2012; Nwagu et al , 2017), as well as a predominant focus by researchers on agriculture crisis macro-environmental factors (Awotide et al , 2019; Barnes et al , 2018; Olowogbon et al , 2019; Uduji et al , 2019; Olawuyi and Mushunje, 2019; Zhang et al , 2018; Omotayo, 2018; Obayelu et al , 2019). Language barriers can prevent participants from understanding research questions or from answering coherently in business terminology.…”