International Journal of Horticulture, 2016, Vol.6, No.3, 1-7
4
Ln (P/1-P) = b
0
+ b
1
X
1
+ b
2
X
2
+ …… b
13
X
13
+ e ……………… (ii)
Where Y = use of fertilizer and its non-use dummy, use of fertilizer is 1 and 0 for non-use; P = Probability of use
of fertilizer; Ln = Natural logarithm function
b
0
= Constant; b
1
– b
13
= Logistic regression coefficients
X
1
= Total output of the farm in naira (₦); X
2
= Gender [male (1) and female (0)]
X
3
= Age of the farmer (years); X
4
= Level of education; X
5
= Farm size (hectares)
X
6
= Number of farmland; X
7
= income from other farm enterprise (₦)
X
8
= Total income from off-farm employment (₦); X
9
= Years of education (years)
X
10
= Price of fertilizer (₦); X
11
= Family size; X
12
= Total cost of land
X
13
= Total cost of crop input; e = Stochastic error term.
Results and Discussion
Socio-economic characteristics of smallholder farmers in arable crop production
Age of the farmers ranged between 26 and 85 years with mean age of 52 years. This showed that the farmers were
relatively advanced in age (Table 1). This agrees with the findings of Amanze et al
.,
(2010) who reported that the
Table 1 Socio economic characteristics of respondents
Characteristics
Distribution (%)
Mean
Ages (years)
36 – 45
25.0
46 – 55
47.5
56 – 65
23.3
51.9
66– 75
4.2
Sex
Male
78.3
Female
21.7
Marital Status
Married
95.8
Divorced
0.8
Widowed
3.3
Family size
1 – 3
3.3
4 – 7
53.3
7.0
8 – 11
30.8
12 – 15
12.5
Literacy level (years)
Primary (6)
34.2
Secondary (10)
31.7
9
Tertiary (15)
14.2
No formal education
20.0
Total farm size (hectare)
0.01 – 1.00
2.5
1.01 – 2.00
33.3
2.01 – 3.00
37.5
2.54
3.01 – 4.00
26.7
Source –Field survey, 2014
smallholder arable crop production farmers were relatively old in arable crop farmers in Imo State. This buttress
the fact that agriculture is seen as an occupation for the aged while the young look for white-collar jobs in the
urban areas. Younger farmers are more adventurous while older farmers are laggards and tend not to accept new
inventions until there is proof of its effectiveness (Onuoha and Nnadi, 1999). The resultant effect according to
