Socioeconomic assessment of the current agronomic practices in Nigeria: case study of rice, maize and cassava based households for the Sasakawa Africa Association Nigeria Use Case

Arouna, A., Yergo, W., Kreye, C. and Ali, I. 2024. Socioeconomic assessment of the current agronomic practices in Nigeria: case study of rice, maize and cassava based households for the Sasakawa Africa Association Nigeria Use Case: study report. Bouake, Côte d’Ivoire: Africa Rice Center.

This report presents the results of the assessment of the current agronomy practices of rice, maize and cassava based households in Nigeria. Three regions were surveyed in Nigeria. A total of 1091 households producing rice, maize and cassava were surveyed during the baseline data collection in Nigeria. Results showed the average age of producers is 44 years old and ranges from 21 to 71 years old, and the average household size is 4 persons. About 93.5% of producers are male and 59.03% are married and monogamous while 35.01% are married and polygamous. In addition, 77% of the producers have received formal education and the majority have crop production has main activity. Moreover, 95.16% of farmers produce during the rainy season, 0.44% during dry season while 4.40% in both seasons. The crop variety used is mainly local variety (66.26%) followed by improved in bred variety (24.85%) and the improved hybrid with a percentage of 8.89 %. Most farmers (90.50%) own a land while 8.89% of them rent their land. 92.02% of the farmers do not irrigate their crops while a few of them does it (7.98%). Across all the farmers, 33.91% do not apply organic inputs, 62.14% of them apply it one time, 3.25% of them apply it 2 two times and 0.69% of the farmers apply it 3 times on their crops. Concerning the application of inorganic input, 15.18 % of them apply it one time, 67.04 % of them apply it 2 two times and 17.78 % of the farmers apply it 3 times on their crops. For inorganic fertilizers, 61.24% of respondents strongly prefer them, with women being more enthusiastic than men. Overall, farmers tend to prefer farmyard manure, which is a valuable resource for sustainable agriculture, with 50.06% strongly preferring it and 46.34% preferring to use it. Concerning the preference for kitchen compost, 37.86% of respondents strongly prefer it, while 51.35% just prefer it, and 10.28% dislike it. Most respondents prefer using insecticides, with 54.90% strongly preferring them and almost 44% just preferring them. For fungicides, 44.97% strongly prefer them, and 51.69% prefer them. Regarding herbicides, 60.30% of respondents strongly prefer them, while 38.33% just prefer using it. In terms of water pumps, 55.66% prefer them, 25.28% strongly prefer them, and 18.55% dislike them.