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Adoption of Integrated Pest Management by

Farmers in Orumba South Local Government

Area of Anambra State, Nigeria

Angela N. Obiajulu Department of Biology Education, School of Sciences/Federal College of Education (Technical), Umunze, Anambra

State, Nigeria

Email: [email protected]

Abstract─The study assessed the level of adoption of

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) among the farmers in

Orumba South Local Government Area of Anambra State,

Nigeria. Questionnaire was used to illicit responses from the

140 farmers randomly selected from the area. It was

observed that only 16.43% of the farmers had adopted IPM

approach in their pest control operations in the area. The

results of multiple regression analysis on the socio-economic

characteristics of the farmers revealed that age, among

other factors, positively influenced the farmers’ level of

adoption of IPM. It further showed that years of experience

in pesticide application is one of the factors that had

negative influence on the adoption of IPM technology. Poor

extension services and poor knowledge of 1PM innovation

were among the identified constraints to IPM adoption in

the area. The paper suggested active farmers’ participation

in the on-going FADAMA III project aimed at assisting the

farmers with financial and other agricultural inputs and

vigorous extension practices aimed at disseminating

agricultural innovations like IPM to the farmers.

Index Terms─adoption, agriculture, extension services,

farmers, integrated pest management, orumba

I. INTRODUCTION

Low agricultural productivity has been identified as

the cause of high incidence of food insecurity and

poverty in Nigeria [1]. To solve the dual problems of

food insecurity and high incidence of poverty among the

rural poor in Nigeria, agricultural productivity must be

revived. Pest management is a veritable tool for

achieving sustainable productivity and development in

agriculture.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is one of the

approaches in pest management. IPM is a strategy or

system that combines all available pest control methods

to ensure the healthy growth of crop so that they produce

high yields [2]. In practice, IPM approach judiciously

utilizes all available pest management strategies,

including cultural, physical, biological and chemical

controls to prevent economically damaging pest

outbreaks and to reduce risks to human health, the

environment, economic and social issues. No single pest

Manuscript received September 16, 2014; revised December 1, 2014.

control can guarantee food security and safety especially

in Africa but IPM holds such potential. However, the

impact and adoption of IPM approach in the rural

farming communities is very low [3]. If IPM is to be

practiced to any significant extent in Nigerian, its

technologies must be appropriately disseminated to and

adopted by rural–poor farmers who constitute majority of

the Nigerian farmers. The study assessed the level of

adoption of IPM by the farmers in Orumba South Local

Government Area of Anambra State, Nigeria.

Specifically, the objectives of the study were to:

Determine the level adoption of IPM in the study

area.

Describe the socio-economic characteristics of the

farmers in the area.

Ascertain the effects of the socio-economic

characteristics of the farmers on their level of

adoption IPM.

Identify possible constraints to adequate IPM

adoption by the farmers.

II. HYPOTHESIS

The socio-economic characteristics of the farmers do

not significantly influence their level of adoption of IPM.

III. MATERIALS AND METHODS

The study was conducted in Orumba South Local

Government Area of Anambra State, Nigeria. It

comprises of fifteen (15) towns and a total population of

184,548 people [4]. The people are predominantly small-

scale rural farmers and the crops cultivated include

vegetables, yam, maize and cocoyam. Seven out of the

fifteen towns in the area were randomly selected for the

study. From each of these seven towns, twenty (20)

farmers were randomly sampled using the balloting

method. This gave a total of 140 farmers for the study.

Extension agents and local community leaders from the

study area were used to identify and locate the target

respondents.

Questionnaire was used for collecting the data used for

the study. Descriptive and inference statistics were used

to analyze the objectives. Descriptive statistics such as

mean, percentage, and frequency were used to analyze

692014 Engineering and Technology Publishing

Journal of Life Sciences and Technologies Vol. 2, No. 2, December 2014

doi: 10.12720/jolst.2.2.69-73

mailto:[email protected]

objectives i and ii, objective iii was analyzed using

multiple regression analysis while objective iv was

analyzed using mean score derived from 4-point Likert

scale.

A. Model Specifications Used

B. Likert Model

�̅�s = 𝛴𝑓𝑥

𝑁 (1)

where:

�̅�s = Mean score.

𝛴 = Summation

f = frequency

x = Numerical/Score value

N= Number of respondents to a problem factor.

C. Model for Multiple Regression Analysis

ү = f (X1,X2,X3, X4, X5, X6, X7, X8)…. Implicit form. (2)

ү = (a0+a1x1+a2x2+a3x3+a4x4+a5x5+a6x6+a7x7+a8x8

+ut) ……....Explicit form. (3)

ү = Rate of adoption of IPM.

Where X1= Age of the farmers

X2= Gender of the famers.

X3= Marital status of the farmer.

X4= Family size.

X5= Number of people involved in pesticide

application.

X6= Number of years involved in pesticide application

X7=Educational status of the farmers.

X8=Contact with agriculture extension officers

Ut= Stochastic error disturbance.

D. Test of Hypothesis

The null hypothesis was tested using F-test at 5% level

of significance.

IV. RESULT AND DISCUSSIONS

A. Socio-Economic Characteristics of the Farmers in

the Area

TABLE I. PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FARMERS

Variables Frequency

(n=140) % Mean Variables

Frequency

(n=140) %

Mea

n

Age (years)

21-30

31-40

41-50 51-60

61 & above

17

30

33 50

10

12.14

21.43

23.57 35.71

7.14

46

Years involved

in pesticide

application

0-5

6-10 11-15

Above 15

20

26 27

67

14.29

18.57 19.29

47.86

13

Gender

Male Female

95

45

67.86 32.14

Household

members

involved in

decision making

Traditional rulers

mostly Heads of

households only

Parents & children only

Couples only

All household members

3

15

27

21

74

2.14

10.71

19.29

15.00

52.86

Marital

Status

Single

Married

37

103

26.43

73.57

Family Size

1-5

6-10

11-15

Above 15

45

88 6

1

32.14

62.86 4.29

0.71

7

Contact with

Agric extension

officers

Yes

No

93

47

66.43

33.57

Family

members

involved in

pesticide

application 1-5

6-10

11-15

Above 15

73 56

11

0

52.14 40.00

7.86

0.00

6

Adoption of

IPM

Yes (Adopters)

No (Non

adopters)

23

117

16.43

83.57

Source: Field survey, 2014.

Table I shows that the mean age of the farmers was 46

years with most of the farmers (35.71%) within the age

bracket of 51 – 60 years, followed by those between the

ages of 41 – 50 years (23.57%). This entails that majority



of the respondents (59.28%) were within the age bracket

of 41-60 years which represent the working age and the

most economically active age groups that can venture

into agriculture [5]. The age groups are best suited for

possessing the skills required in adopting innovations,

such as IPM application [6]. Only 7.14% of the famers

were above 60 years. It was pointed out that ability to

withstand stress is low as the famers advance in age [7].

Table I also indicates that 32.14% females and 67.86%

males were involved in pesticide application in the study

area. It had been suggested that application of pesticides

is considered a male task [6], [8]. It could be that women

in most cultures are aware of the danger of exposing their

unborn children to chemicals. Strong evidence links

mother’s occupational exposure to pesticides to birth

defects, fetal death and altered fetal growth [9].

Table I reveals that majority of the respondents

(73.57%) were married. This shows that most of the

respondents were family men and women, who are likely

to influence adoption positively because they have more

family responsibilities and are likely to have more family

labor at their disposal [5] as opposed to their unmarried

counter parts who may depend on hired labor. Table I

further shows that the highest level of education attained

by the farmers was primary education (42.86%) while

25.71% of the farmers had no formal education. Since

majority, (74.29%) of the farmers are literate, it is being

expected that their adoption rate will be high [10]. High

level of education of the farmers makes them to adopt

and implement innovations successfully [11].

Table I also shows that 62.86% of the farmers had 6-

10 household members; 32.14% had 1 -5 members; 4.29%

had 11 – 15 members while only one (0.71%) of the

respondents had a family size of above 15. Probably

those with high household members practice the popular

extended family system where parents live with their

children and other extended family members. Extended

family system of livelihood is prevalent in the study area.

It was also observed from table I that majority of the

farmers (52.14%) in the area have 1 - 5 members of their

household assisting in pesticide application while

majority of the farmers (67.20%) had 11 and above years

of experience in pesticide application. This indicates that

most of the farmers are old enough in pesticide

application [6]. Years of experience in pesticide

application is expected to be positively related to

adoption. Table I also reveals that greatest percentage of

the respondents (52.86%) had all their household

members involved in decision making. This no doubt will

help the farmers to always come up with better decisions.

Table I reveals that only 16.43% of the farmers have

adopted IPM in their pest control operations while

majority of the respondents (83.57%) have not adopted

IPM approach. It could be that poor knowledge of IPM

approach forces them to use other methods of pest

control which they deem cheaper [3], [12]. The high

percentage of farmers (68.56%) with levels of education

lower than secondary education may be a reason for the

high percentage of non-adopters of IPM recorded in this

study. Education is not only an important determinant of

adoption of innovations but also a tool for successful

implementation of the innovation [11], [13].

B. Frequency of Extension Contacts with the Farmers

Table II indicates that majority of the farmers (62.86%)

seldomly had contacts with the extension agents; 3.57%

meet them quite often while 33.57% never had contact

with the extension officers. This shows that contact with

extension officers in the study area is inadequate and

poor [6]. This may be part of the reason why the rate of

adoption of the IPM technology is low in the area. The

reason for this non-contact with extension officers by the

farmers recorded may probably be due to low ratio of

extension officers to farmers.

TABLE II. FREQUENCY OF EXTENSION CONTACTS WITH THE

FARMERS

No of times Frequency (n=140)

Percentage

Quite often

Seldom No contact

5

88 47

3.57

62.86 33.57

Source: Field Survey, 2014.

C. Test of Hypothesis

Table III reveals that the coefficient of multiple

determinants (R2) was 0.198 which indicates that 19.8%

of the total variation in the adoption or use of IPM in the

pest control operations in the study area was explained by

the variables included in the model.

Age had positive influence, though statistically

insignificant, on the adoption of IPM. This shows that the

farmer’s response to IPM adoption will increase as he

grows older. The coefficient of family size was positively

signed, implying that increase in household size will lead

to increase in the rate of adoption of IPM. This is because

more members of the household will be available for

pesticide application leading to increased response to

IPM practices in the area. Contact with agricultural

extension officers was positively related to the adoption

of IPM. Few of the farmers met with the extension

officers quite often and this resulted to low adoption of

the IPM technology. This confirms the a priori

expectation that effective and adequate extension

information delivery to the farmers will increase their

productivity. Marital status had negative influence on IPM adoption.

This is contrary to the a priori expectation that most of

the married respondents will embark on IPM technology.

Years of experience in pesticide application also had

negative influence on the adoption of IPM technology. It

has earlier been reported that increase in the years of

experience did not increase the level of adoption or use of

IPM practice [6]. It might be that the farmers’ view of

IPM as a new technology is at variance with their cultural

/conventional pest control practices. Farmers readily

adopted technologies which are compatible with

traditional management objectives [14]. Educational level

also bore a negative sign but is statistically significant at

5% level. This is at variance with the a priori

expectations for this study and an earlier report that the



efficiency of farmers in adopting innovation increase as

they acquire more education [5].

TABLE III. MULTIPLE REGRESSION ANALYSIS OF THE INFLUENCE OF

FARMERS’ SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS ON 1PM

ADOPTION

Variables Coefficient Std Error t-value Sig.

Constant 1.951 0.232 8.409 S

Age (X1) 0.028 0.036 0.779 NS

Gender (X2) 0.035 0.066 0.536 NS Marital Status

(X3) -0.051 0.082 -0.631 NS

Family Size (X4)

0.048 0.067 0.719 NS

Family

members

involved in

pesticide

application (X5)

-0.095

0.067

-1.408

NS

No of Years in pesticide

application (X6)

-0.113

0.032

-3.045

S

Educational Level (X7)

-0.086 0.046 -2.075

S

Contact with

agricultural extension

officers (X8)

0.245

0.069

3.569

S

R2 0.198

R-2 0.147

F Statistics 0.000

DW 4.021

Source: SPSS Computed Field Survey, 2014

D. Constraints to IPM Adoption

TABLE IV. MEAN SCORE DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENTS ON

CONSTRAINTS TO IPM ADOPTION

Constraints Mean

Score(X) Decision

Lack/ inadequate capital 3.8 Accepted

Poor Extension services 3.4 Accepted

Inadequate Technical know-how 3.4 Accepted

Politicizing of the IPM approach 1.3 Rejected Environmental factors 3.4 Accepted

Cultural norms and belief 1.8 Rejected

High cost of using IPM approach 1.7 Rejected

Source: Field Survey, 2014

Table IV identified lack/inadequate capital (3.8), poor

extension services (3.3), poor knowledge of 1PM

innovation (3.3), inadequate technical know-how (3.4)

and environmental factors (3.4) as constraints to farmers’

1PM adoption. This is in line with some earlier studies

which reported that insufficient use of extension

personnel has resulted in poor extension services in

Nigeria [5], [15].

V. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

IPM has not been appreciably adopted in the study

area. Based on the results of this study, it is suggested

that the promoters of the IPM approach should embark

on aggressive extension activities that will, among others,

help in dissemination current pest management

information like to farmers and crop advisors in the area.

The present FADAMA III project aimed at assisting the

farmers with financial and other agricultural inputs

should be intensified in the area to ensure that more

farmers benefit from the project.

REFERENCES

[1] World Bank, Nigerian poverty in the midst of plenty: The

challenges of growth with inclusion. A World Bank Poverty Assessment, Population and Human Resources Division Report,

No. 14733- UNI, Washington, DC, The World Bank, 1996.

[2] A. Youdeowei, Integrated Pest Management Practice for the production of vegetables. Integrated Pest Management Extension

Guides, N0 4. Accra, Ghana, Ministry of Food and Agriculture,

Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate with the German Development Cooperation (Deutsche Gesellschaft fur

Technische Zusammenarbeit, 2002.

[3] S. C. Eze and B. C. Echezona, “Agricultural pest control programmes, food security and safety,” African Journal of Food,

Agriculture, Nutrition and Development, vol. 12, no. 5, pp. 6582-

6592, 2012. [4] National Population Census (NPC), Official population report of

Orumba South Local Government Area of Anambra State, Nigeria,

2006. [5] M. D. Agbom, “Evaluation of farmers adoption of agricultural

innovation in Oyi Local Government Area, Anambra Stae,

Nigeria,” International Journal of Applied Research and Technology, vol. 1, no. 20, pp. 24-31, 2012.

[6] A. U. Ofuoku, E. O. Egho, and E. C. Enujeke, “Integrated pest

management (IPM) adoption among farmers in Central Agro-Ecological Zone of Delta State,” African Journal of Agricultural

Research, vol. 3, no. 12, pp. 852-856, 2008.

[7] M. D. Agbom, “Evaluation of farmers adoption of agricultural innovation in Oyi Local Government Area, Anambra State,

Nigeria,” International Journal of Applied Research and

Technology, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 24-31, 2012. [8] D. Prakash, Rural Women, Food Security and Agricultural Co-

Operatives, New Delhi: Rural Development and Management

Centre, 2003, pp. 50. [9] M. Sanborn, K. J. Kerr, L. H. Sanin, D. C. Cole, K. L. Bassil, and

C. Vakil, “Non-cancer health effects of pesticides: Systemic

review and implications for family doctors,” Can Fam Physician, vol. 55, no. 10, pp. 1712–20, 2007.

[10] C. T. Uwakah, The Agricultural Extension Approach to Rural

Development in West Africa, Nsukka University of Nigeria, Press, 1985, pp. 105.

[11] L. O. Obibuaku, Agricultural Extension as a Strategy for

Agricultural Transformation, University of Nigeria Press, Nsukka, 1983, pp. 3-6.

[12] J. U. Agbamu, Essentials of Agricultural Communication in

Nigeria Lagos, Malthouse Press Ltd, 2006. [13] E. M. Rogers and F. F. Shoemaker, Communication of

Innovations, Free Press, New York, U.S.A., 1971.

[14] M. S. Adams, Agricultural Extension in Developing Countries, Longman Publishers, Singapore, 1987.

[15] B. A. Nwuzor, Agricultural Extension in Economic Development,

Econas Company Enugu, 2009, pp. 7-20.

Angela Ngozi Obiajulu was born in Ihiala

Local Government Area of Anambra State. She had her Nigerian Certificate in Education

(NCE) at Anambra State College of Education Awka between 1985 and 1988. She obtained

her B.Sc. (Ed.) Biology from University of

Nigeria Nsukka in 1998. She bagged her

Master of Philosophy in Entomology in 2006

from University of Ghana, Legon. She is

currently pursuing her Ph.D in Pest Management and Entomology at University of



Port Harcourt. She majors in Integrated Science Education, Biology Education, Pest Management and Entomology.

She has been teaching science subjects since 1989. She has been a staff

of Federal College of Education (Technical), Umunze since 1992 where she has served in different capacities; amongst others as Chief

Executive Officer and now a Lecturer in Biology Education Department,

School of Sciences. She has published many Academic Articles in some renowned Nigerian and International Journals. Her research interest

include innovations in teaching and learning of Sciences, reproductive

strategies of olive baboons, general parasitology, malaria vectors, epidemiology and transmission.

Ms Obiajulu is a member of Entomological Society of Nigeria, Women in Colleges of Education (WICE), Science Teachers’ Association of

Nigeria, Forum for African Women Educationists Nigeria (FAWEN)

and Benedictine Oblates of Nigeria (BON). She had received best staff award from F.C.E. (T), Umunze in Anambra State Nigeria (2001) and

DAAD Scholarship (2004 – 2006). She served as a member of the

Organizing Committees of the 9th National Conference of F.C.E.(T), Umunze in 2009 and the Maiden National Conference of School of

Sciences, F.C.E (T), Umunze in 2013. She was also the Chairperson of

the Organizing Committee of the 2nd National Congress of Benedictine Oblates of Nigeria held in 2012.



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