Soil maintenance practices for improving arable crop production in Anambra East Local Government Area, Anambra State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study was carried out to determine soil maintenance practices for improving arable crop production in Anambra East, L.G.A, Anambra State, Nigeria. The study was guided by three research questions and three hypotheses. The study adopted descriptive survey research design with the population of the 230 comprising 214 arable crop farmers and 16 extension agents. The sample of the study was 144 comprising 131 farmers and 13 extension agents selected using purposive sampling techniques to enable the researcher select the farmers who are into crop production. The instrument for data collection was structured questionnaire developed by the researcher titled, “Soil Maintenance Practices for Improving Arable Crop Production Questionnaire (SFMPIACPQ)”. The instrument was validated by three experts, two from Agricultural Education units of the Department of Agricultural and Vocational Education, and one expert from Measurement and Evaluation unit of Science Education Department, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike. The reliability of the instrument was 0.82, 0.78, 0.75, and 0.73 for each cluster, an overall reliability coefficient index of 0.77 established using Crobach Alpha Statistics. The data collected we analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions why the null hypothesis were tested using t-test statistics at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that: different soil maintenance practices that can enhance arable crop production include: use of crop rotation practices, erosion prevention and control, cover cropping, adoption of bush fallowing technique, minimum bush burning practice, use of compost manure to maintain the fertility of the soil, use of mulching to maintain the moisture of the soil, use of integrated soil fertility management and inorganic fertilizers application. The benefits of soil maintenance practices include: helps to improve the fertility of the soil for enhancing crop productivity, reduces the level of soil nutrient depletion in crop production, and helps to prevent soil degradation. The factors affecting the use of soil maintenance practices include: illiteracy of many rural farmers, limited farmlands in terms of crop rotation, and financial challenges among others. Based on the findings, it was recommended that there is need for Government of Anambra state through the Ministry of Agriculture to embark on awareness campaign to educate the farmers on different soil maintenance practices for improving arable crop production for food security.