Farmers’ Knowledge, Attitude and Perception of Bee Pollination of Watermelon and Soybean in North-Central, Nigeria

Abstract

Given the sheer size of the Nigerian population, increasing at geometric rate while food production increases at arithmetic rate, crop pollinations have important implications for nation food self-sufficiency and the sustainable increases in food production. This work was undertaken to assess farmers’ knowledge, attitude and perception of bee pollination activity vis-à-vis watermelon and soybean production in North-Central, Nigeria. A field survey comprising questionnaire administration and group discussion of the watermelon and soybean farmers was conducted in 10 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Kwara State, North-Central Nigeria. A total of 160 farmers consisting of 80 watermelon and 80 soybean farmers were randomly sampled. The main tools of analysis were descriptive statistics and propensity score matching. The results revealed that the average age of  watermelon and soybean farmers were 43 and 45 years, mean education index of 4.1 and  4.6 years respectively, household size of 8 and adjusted size of 7 for both and average annual income of ₦120550 ($430.54) and ₦135600 ($484.29) respectively. The empirical results also revealed there is a significant difference in average annual farm income and crop yields among watermelon and soybean farmers who adopt bee pollination services and non-adopters. The study recommends the need to enlighten and assist farmers through extension agents to imbibed bee pollination service for insect dependent crop production.