Analysis of Farmers’ Participation in Cocoa Agroforestry Systems in Abia State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study analyzed farmers’ participation in cocoa agroforestry systems in Abia State, Nigeria. It specifically; described socio-economic characteristics of farmers; ascertained their levels of participation and ascertained perception of farmers towards cocoa agroforestry systems attributes. Multistage random sampling procedure was used to select one hundred and twenty (120) cocoa farmers. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and results analyzed with descriptive (such as frequency counts, mean scores and percentages) and inferential statistics (Tobit and multiple regression analyses). Results revealed that majority (96.7%) of cocoa farmers were males, acquired secondary education (93.33%) with mean annual farm income of N573, 500.00, mean monthly extension contact of 2.9 visits and mean years of social organization membership of 8 years. Farmers had favourable perception (=3.0) and high participation (=2.4) in cocoa agroforestry system attributes. Multiple regression result showed that coefficients for sex (β=0.0766), education (β=0.0439), farm income (β=4.72), extension contact (β=0.0999) and membership of social organization (β=0.0203), influenced farmers’ participation in cocoa agro-forestry systems. However, climate change adaptation (β=0.0242), climate change mitigation (β=-0.1118), use of environmentally friendly measures (β=0.0066), disease and pest reduction measures (β=-0.0136) and soil conservation, reduced soil erosion and flooding (β=0.04251) influenced perceived attributes of farmers’ participation in cocoa agroforestry systems. The study concluded that famers had high participation in cocoa agroforestry systems and its attributes. It is recommended that farmers should be introduced to other agroforestry-based climate change adaptation technologies in order to effectively build resilience through extension education, formation of farmer-based organizations for increased participation in cocoa agroforestry systems.

Key words: Participation, Cocoa, Agroforestry systems, Farmers