Cocoa Farmers Attitude towards Utilisation of Integrated Pest Management in Edo and Ogun States of Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined cocoa farmers’ attitude towards the utilization of integrated pest management (IPM) in Edo and Ogun States of Nigeria. In Edo State, 60 respondents were randomly selected out of 100 trained cocoa farmers. Random selection of 60 respondents from registered cocoa farmers that were not trained in IPM was done in the Ogun State Agricultural Development Programme. Interview schedule was used to obtain data on respondents’ characteristics, cocoa yield and attitude of respondents towards IPM. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and Chi-square. The majority (60.8%) of the respondents were in the age bracket of 41 and 60 years while 89.2% of the respondents were males. The majority (73.3%) of trained and 56.7% of untrained had formal education. The total respondents result showed that 49.2% had favourable attitude. There was a significant relationship between both the attitude of trained respondents (X2=5.72, P<0.05) and their cocoa bean yield of and the attitude of untrained respondents (X2=5.64, P<0.05) and their cocoa bean yield.  The mean yield of trained respondents (1436.3±1196.4 kg) significantly differed from that of the untrained respondents (1209.3±524.3kg), which shows that IPM training had much impact on farmer’s cocoa yield, hence, untrained farmers need training in IPM.