Preventive Measures Adopted by Nigerian Farmers for the Environmental Hazards in Cocoa Plantations

Abstract

The study investigated the adoption of environmental hazards preventive measures among cocoa farmers in Nigeria. It specifically identified and evaluated the preventive measures adopted by the farmers against environmental hazards associated with cocoa farming. A multistage sampling procedure was used in selecting 600 respondents from five geo-political zones where cocoa is commercially grown in the country. Results revealed that cocoa farming was dominated by male farmers (94%) with a mean age of 48.6±14.0 years, while 81.5% were literate. Fifteen environmental hazards preventive measures were adopted by the farmers, of which the highest adopted preventive measures were hygiene practices on the farm (48.8%) and use of disease resistant varieties (48%). The farmers indicated that they (61.5%) never allowed crops to be less vulnerable, 57.8% never adhered to cocoa certification procedure and55.7% never practiced integrated pest management techniques. On the whole, however, 28.8% fell into high adoption category. The study further showed that there was a significant and positive correlation between adoption of environmental hazards preventive measures and farmers’ yield at (r = 0.936; p<0.05).This implies an increase in the yield of cocoa production vis-à -vis the adoption of environmental hazards preventive measures among the Nigeria cocoa farmers.