Traditional Farming Practices: Espousal and Committed by Farmers in Northern Senatorial Districts of Gombe State, North – eastern Nigeria
Publication Date: 14/11/2021
Author(s): Modibbo U. D., Dangora I. I..
Volume/Issue: Volume 4 , Issue 4 (2021)
Abstract:
This study was conducted in the northern senatorial district of Gombe state which comprises of local government areas like Gombe, Dukku, Nafada, Funakaye and Kwami respectively. The objective of the research is to ascertained the use of traditional farming practice in the said study area, Quantitative and descriptive research design was adopted for this study and the cluster sampling technique were used to randomly select 50 farmers from each of the five clusters in the study area making a total of 250 farmers as sample size. Structured questionnaire containing nine different organic farming practices on two point scale of yes and no that indicate use or not use was administered. Data generated for this study was analyzed using mean and standard deviation whereby six out of nine traditional farming practices was found to be commonly used by the farmers which are: Farm sanitation (use of fire) (mean value = 1.83, standard deviation (SD) = 0.6), Use of animal manure (mean value = 1.75, SD = 0.5), Light tillage (mean value = 1.65, SD = 0.4), intercropping (mean value = 1.63, SD = 0.4), Use of cover crops ( mean value = 1.55, SD = 0.3), Application of compost (mean value = 1.45, SD = 0.3). The trend of traditional farming practice used by the farmers in the study area shows that the above six practices are the prominent ones among the farmers, the demography of the respondents shows that farming is solely a venture of the men. However, this study recommended that farmers in the study area should have to increase their knowledge of the traditional farming practice for judicious and better conservation of soil, also they should adopt and increase their awareness of the traditional farming practices to drive home the benefits of eco-friendly nature of the practices. However, others include introduction of the practice as practical course in the curriculum of basic learning level and reorientation of the younger ones on the benefits of the practice ecologically and environmentally.
Keywords:
Intercropping, Crop Rotation, Cover Crop, Mulching, Animal Manure
