Abstract

Sustaining soil fertility is critical for ensuring food and livelihood security for present and future generations. Inadequate Soil Fertility Management Practices (SFMP) among arable crop farmers have reduced crop yields and it threatens food production and farmers' livelihoods. This study assessed the SFMP among arable crop farmers in Oyo State. A four-stage sampling procedure was used to select 240 farmers and data were collected through questionnaires. Mean, charts, frequency counts, Chi square and Pearson Product Moment Correlation were used for analysis. The results showed that the majority of farmers were male (72.5%), married (83.3%) and Christian (75.3%), with an average age of 52 ± 9.42 years and a mean of 11± 5.23 years of education. Over half (51.7%) of respondents reported significant benefits from SFMP use. Utilisation of SFMP was high (50.8%) among farmers. Mulching (x?=2.72), minimum tillage (x?=2.59) and crop rotation (x?=2.40) were most adopted practices. Key benefits include increased crop yield (x?=194.9), higher income (x?=194.9) and reduced crop failure (x?=191.7). The main constraints were inadequate supply of inputs (x?=2.84), limited agricultural land (x?=2.79) and insufficient finance (x?=2.68). Years of farming experience (r = 0.183) significantly influenced SFMP use, with farming experience (? = 0.223) and educational attainment (? = 0.107) being key predictors of utilisation. It is recommended that policies and interventions should focus on improving farmers’ access to inputs, finance and extension education to enhance sustained adoption of soil fertility practices.

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