Utilization of Herbicide by Farmers in Kogi State, Nigeria

A survey experiment was conducted during the 2018 cropping season to assess the utilization of herbicides by farmers in Kogi state. The study was carried out through the use of structured questionnaires administered to nine hundred (900) farmers across five (5) Local Government Areas (LGAs), (three villages per LGA and 20 farmers in each village were sampled) in each of the three senatorial districts of the state.Results showed that farmers across the three senatorial districts were mostly males (79%), married (78.7%) illiterates (55.31%) and aged (41-60 years). Very few farmers had post secondary education with Kogi west taking the lead (6.7%). A large proportion of farmers (94.6%) applied herbicides on their farms by using mostly (72.8%) CP15 sprayers which were most often borrowed. Results also indicated that in the three senatorial districts, majority of famers (91%) did not put on protective attire during spraying operation and mostly (82.4%) used milk tin in dispensing herbicides into the spray tank. The survey revealed that inspite of high acceptability of herbicides as a means of weed control, most farmers did not observe safety measures and purchased chemicals from the open market. Therefore, there is the need for advocacy by the State Ministry of Agriculture and Agricultural Development Project (ADP) in order to reverse the trend for optimum herbicide utilization in the state.