Effect of adoption of sustainable agricultural practices among plantain farmers in Yenagoa agricultural zone of Bayelsa State, Nigeria

The study analyzed adoption of sustainable agricultural practices among plantain farmers in Yenagoa agricultural zone of Bayelsa State, Nigeria. Purposive and multi-stage random sampling techniques were used to select 100 plantain farmers from ten communities in the study area. Data were collected using structured questionnaire and were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics such as (ANOVA) and multiple regression analysis. The findings showed that plantain farmers had a mean age of 39 years, 54.0% of plantain farmers were females while 46.0% were females. The result shows that planting time (82.0%), spacing (79.0%), pruning (65.0%) and new varieties (53.0%) were the various sustainable agricultural practices provided by extension in the study area. The study further shows that sucker multiplication ( = 2.76), post-harvest ( =2.60) and types of suckers ( = 2.28) were the sustainable agricultural practices adopted by plantain farmers. Plantain farmers were aware of the following sustainable agricultural practices provided by extension: spacing (100%), pruning (99%), planting time (97%), mulching (77.0%) and staking (61.0%). The study also shows that extension was effective in result demonstration ( =3.32), agricultural extension visit ( = 3.05), number of trainings ( =2.99), method demonstration ( =2.81), research extension linkage ( =2.77) and number of meetings scheduled that held ( =2.61). The ANOVA result showed that there was significant difference in the effectiveness of extension in sustainable agricultural practices dissemination among plantain farmers in the study area at 5% level of significance. The multiple regression analysis revealed that age (3.626***) and household size (4.165***) influenced the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices at 1% level of significance while marital status (2.578**), income (2.519**) and farm size (2.641**) influenced the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices at 5% level of significance. The study concluded that there was high level of adoption of sustainable agricultural practices by plantain farmers in the study area. Hence, it recommends that extension should vigorously promote the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices for increased plantain production.