Green Global
Foundation   Journal
...an emerging window for scientific research and publication across the globe

ASSESSMENT OF COCOA FARMERS CHEMICAL USAGE PATTERN IN PEST AND DISEASE MANAGEMENT IN ONDO STATE (Pages : 27 - 34)

Cocoa farmers use a wide range of chemicals to limit losses from pests and diseases in cocoa production. This study was carried out between January and April 2006 in two local government areas of Ondo State. High incidence of pests and diseases continiues in the cocoa farms despite heavy reliance on chemicals in diseases and pests management, The study therefore assessed the agrochemical usage pattern of cocoa farmers for pests and diseases management in Ondo State. The objectives of the study are to determine the personal characteristics of cocoa farmers; usage pattern and types of chemicals being used by cocoa farmers and ascertain the constraints facing farmers to obtain agro chemicals in the study area. The respondents were randomly selected from the study area. Out of 16 local government areas (LGAs) in Ondo state, two LGAs namely Idanre and Ondo East were randomly selected and three villages were selected from each LGA. Questionnaire was administered to 15 farmers each of the three LGAs to make a total of 90 respondents. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were used to analyse data from the study. 61.1% of the respondents were above 46 years of age, most (86.7%) were married, and 58.9% had no formal education while 55% had between 6-10 children. Educational status (p=0.01, r2= 10.05), farm size (p=0.04), income (p=0.03) were significantly related to farmers’ chemical usage pattern. Consideration of the right time to spray had the highest mean score (3.83), followed by spraying using any nozzle (3.24) while consideration for health precautionary measures (3.83) had the least mean score. The study identified inadequate government support (2.89) as the most serious constraint, followed by problem of adulterated chemicals (2.79), while poor price of cocoa bean (2.38) was considered to be the least serious problem. The study further shows that constraints such as high cost of chemicals, low access to government inputs and poor price of cocoa beans milDownload