Factors Influencing the Effectiveness of Improved Soil Management Practices among Rice Farmers in Abuja

The study examined the socio economic factors influencing the effectiveness of improved soil management practices among rice farmers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. The study was conducted in Gwagwalada, FCT, Abuja. Two objectives guided the study. The study adopted descriptive research design. Multi stage sampling technique was used to select rice farmers, while a well-structured questionnaire was used for data collection from the 360 rice farmers used for the study. Objectives of the study were achieved using descriptive statistics and logistic regression. The results show that 58.06% of the rice farmers were male, 36.13% were between the ages of 30 and 39years, 47.74% of them were married with 40% having an average of 5 people in their households. Also 61.94% had at most a national certificate of education (NCE). Majority (44.84) of the rice farmers had a farm size of between half a hectare and two hectares. Zero tillage, with a weighted mean score of 2.95, is the most effective soil management practice in the study area, while fertilizer application with a mean score of 3.2 is the most effective fertility practice among the rice farmers in the study area. The result further revealed that with a weighted mean score of 2.5, the respondents agree with the assertion that location of the soil determines the effectiveness of management practices. The result of the logistic regression shows that sex, age, education and farm size all had significant influences on the effectiveness of soil management practices in the study area. It was recommended that manual tillage should be mostly carried out by rice farmer to improve the level of production, use of fertilizer by the farmers to improve the land fertility level should be encouraged, terracing is required to control erosion as most of the rice farm lands are areas that require water which have high tendency of erosion, soil rotation should be practiced where soil is much available to reduce the level of degradation, organic farming should be practiced to reduce the application of chemicals that will constitute hazard to the soil. Keywords: Rice farmers, improved soil management, adoption, effectiveness, zero tillage