Economic Analysis of Land Management Practices in the Guinea Savannah Agro-ecological Zone of Nigeria: the case of Arable Crop Farmers in Benue State

Abstract

The study assessed the economic analysis of land management practices in Guinea Savannah Agro-ecological Zone of Nigeria: the case of arable crop farmers in Benue State. Data was collected from 175 arable crop farmers using multistage sampling technique and analyzed with descriptive statistics, budgetary technique and profitability index. The results showed that farmers were distributed across seven different land management practices that were prevalent in the area. These were application of organic manure, bush fallowing, crop rotation, application of inorganic fertilizer, alley cropping, cover cropping and mulching. Budgetary technique showed that Gross Margin was highest (N1,173,382.48) in the case of application of inorganic fertilizer while it was lowest (N 472,638.86) in the case of bush fallowing. Return per naira outlay was found to be highest (3.50) in the case of alley cropping while it was lowest in the case of bush fallowing (2.39). The study therefore recommends a labor saving device such as alley cropping and provision of subsidy on inorganic fertilizer.