Assessment of Organic Fertilizer Usage by Garden Egg Farmers in Enugu State, Nigeria
Abstract
The study was undertaken to assess organic fertilizer usage by garden egg farmers in Enugu State, Nigeria. The multistage sampling technique was used to select 80 garden egg farmers. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis were used to analyse data for the study. The mean age of respondents was 39 years. Fifty-five percent (55 %) of respondents were married. The majority (97.5 %) of the respondents used farmyard manure while the average cost of organic fertilizer was N57372.73. A lesser percentage (7.5 %) of respondents in the study applied over 2000 kg of organic fertilizer per hectare with 40 % applying twice per season. The perceived benefit of organic fertilizer was: improvement of soil fertility (2.95 ± 1.12), environment-friendly (2.99 ± 1.23). A constraint identified in the use of organic fertilizer was: slow effect (2.12 ± 1.43), Odorous nature (2.06 ± 1.28) and difficulty in the collection and handling of organic fertilizer (2.72 ± 1.03). The study among other things recommends that farmers be granted credits and extension services that will teach them the required skills in the handling and use of organic fertilizer.
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