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Social Capital and Adoption of Alternative Conservation Agricultural Practices in South-Western Nigeria

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  • Seyi Olalekan Olawuyi

    (Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension, University of Fort Hare, P/Bag X1314, Alice 5700, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa)

  • Abbyssinia Mushunje

    (Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension, University of Fort Hare, P/Bag X1314, Alice 5700, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa)

Abstract

The major concern of most African countries, including Nigeria, in recent times is how to increase food production because of food insecurity issues, which by extension, is a major contributing factor to the prevalence of poverty. Therefore, adoption of conservation agricultural practices is regarded as a pathway to drive the achievement of food and nutrition security, as well as the needed optimal performance in the agri-food sector. Reportedly, scaling up of the limited adoption of these practices could be facilitated through kinship ties, peer influence, and social networks that govern mutual interactions among individuals; therefore, this motivated the study. Using cross-sectional data obtained from 350 sample units selected from South-Western Nigeria through a multistage sampling technique, this study applied descriptive statistical tools and cross-tabulation techniques to profile the sampled subjects while count outcome models were used to investigate the factors driving counts of conservative agriculture (CA) adoption. Similarly, a marginal treatment effects (MTEs) model (parametric approach) using local IV estimator was applied to examine the effects of CA adoption on the outcome ( log of farmers’ farm income). Additionally, appropriate measures of fit tests statistics were used to test the reliabilities of the fitted models. Findings revealed that farmers’ years of farming experience ( p < 0.1), frequency of extension visits ( p < 0.05), and social capital viz-a-viz density of social group memberships ( p < 0.05) significantly determined the count of CA practices adopted with varying degrees by smallholder farmers. Although, social capital expressed in terms of membership of occupational group and diversity of social group members also had a positive influence on the count of CA practices adopted but not significant owing largely to the “information gaps” about agricultural technologies in the study area. However, the statistical tests of the MTEs indicated that the treatment effects differed significantly across the covariates and it also varied significantly with unobserved heterogeneity. The policy relevant treatment effect estimates also revealed that different policy scenarios could increase or decrease CA adoption, depending on which individuals it induces to attract the expected spread and exposure.

Suggested Citation

  • Seyi Olalekan Olawuyi & Abbyssinia Mushunje, 2019. "Social Capital and Adoption of Alternative Conservation Agricultural Practices in South-Western Nigeria," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-20, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:3:p:716-:d:201882
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Collins-Sowah, Peron A. & Adjin, K. Christophe & Henning, Christian H. C. A., 2019. "Complementary impact of social capital on the adoption of productivity enhancing technologies: Evidence from Senegal," Working Papers of Agricultural Policy WP2019-03, University of Kiel, Department of Agricultural Economics, Chair of Agricultural Policy.
    3. Mingyang Han & Ruifeng Liu & Hengyun Ma & Kaiyang Zhong & Jian Wang & Yifan Xu, 2022. "The Impact of Social Capital on Farmers’ Willingness to Adopt New Agricultural Technologies: Empirical Evidence from China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-19, September.
    4. Tolulope E. Oladimeji & Oyakhilomen Oyinbo & Abubakar A. Hassan & Oseni Yusuf, 2020. "Understanding the Interdependence and Temporal Dynamics of Smallholders’ Adoption of Soil Conservation Practices: Evidence from Nigeria," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-21, March.
    5. Matías Ginieis & Xiaoni Li, 2020. "Ranking of Sustainability Journals Using the Author Affiliation Index and Comparison to Other Journal Metrics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-18, February.

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