Effects of open grazing on production activities of arable farmers in Niger State, Nigeria
Abstract
This study assessed the effects of open grazing on production activities of arable farmers in Niger State, Nigeria. Multistage sampling technique was used select 154 registered arable crop farmers for this study. The study showed that majority of the respondents (71.3%) were married, and their predominant age range were 31 – 40 years (66.9%) with a mean age of 34 years. In terms of educational attainment, (82.8%) of the respondents had formal education while only few has no formal education, with an average mean of 6 years of schooling. The result also showed that farmers are concerned about soil compaction and erosion caused by grazing animals, the need for additional fencing and other protective measures increases production costs and farmers perceive open grazing as a major threat to crop yields due to direct consumption and trampling of crops by livestock were major arable farmers’ perception on open grazing activities in the study area. The findings further show that, open grazing can lead to conflicts between livestock and wildlife, potentially affecting biodiversity and crop pollination were major effects of open grazing on production activities of arable farmers in the study area. The results also show that, Aids to the victim of herders-farmers conflict to reduce the tendency of reprisal attacks (?̅=3.46), Avoid dry season cultivation of crops (?̅=3.40) and Help from local leaders to avoid impact of open grazing (?̅=3.11) were major effective coping strategies to open grazing activities on arable farmers in the study area. It is therefore recommended that government should establish and enforce designated grazing zones away from crop fields to minimize soil compaction, erosion, and crop damage.
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