article · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems
Agroforestry offers a natural pathway for mitigating climate change impacts while enhancing food production, yet its widespread adoption has faced hurdles due to limited scientific validation. Focusing on cocoa farmers in Oyo State, Nigeria, an investigation assessed the specific drivers that motivate agricultural producers to integrate agroforestry practices. Based on statistical analyses of data gathered from 120 farmers, willingness to participate in agroforestry is positively influenced by access to agricultural information and contact with extension services. Conversely, negative attitudes significantly reduce farmer involvement in these land-use systems. Encouraging broader adoption requires mitigation programmes to actively supply farmers with practical tools, overcome behavioural barriers, and improve farmer understanding regarding the economic rewards tied to carbon markets alongside sustainable farming goals.
Understanding farmer motivation is critical for implementing effective climate change solutions. Agroforestry can capture atmospheric carbon while supporting sustainable food yields, but its success relies on farmer participation. By identifying the need for improved extension services, targeted information, and engagement with carbon markets, support programmes can be better designed to address farmer reservations and accelerate climate action across cocoa-growing areas.
This research provides applied insights that can inform the design of agricultural extension initiatives, carbon market mechanisms, and climate mitigation programmes aimed at cocoa growers. By highlighting the critical role of information access, it points towards potential applications for rural advisory services and carbon offset developers seeking to increase farmer participation. However, the abstract does not indicate a direct product, patent, or technical commercialisation pathway.
AI-generated from the published abstract. Always read the original work before citing.
Abstract With the adverse effects of climate change becoming more prominent, more effective strategies for reducing the increase in atmospheric CO 2 levels are required for mitigating further climate change. Increasing use of renewable energy by farmers motivated to practice agroforestry is one natural solution for reducing those climate change impacts. Unfortunately, climate change mitigation through agroforestry has been inhibited by a lack of scientific validation. In this paper, we ascertain factors that motivate African cocoa farmers to use agroforestry practices for enhancing food production as well as for mitigating climate change. We analyzed data collected from 120 farmers from the Oyo state of Nigeria through descriptive and regression analysis statistical tools. We found that access to information (β = 0.23, t = 2.18) and extension service (β = 0.23, t = 2.27) was associated with greater willingness of farmers to participate in agroforestry whereas negative attitudes (β = −0.29, t = −3.21) were associated with a lower involvement of cocoa farmers in agroforestry practices. We conclude that effective climate change mitigation programs need to do more to motivate farmers to adopt agroforestry practices by increasing their understanding of the benefits to be derived from carbon markets and by providing them with the necessary tools for employing these practices for climate change mitigation and more sustainable food production.
This page summarises published work. The authoritative version sits with the publisher.
DOI: 10.1017/s1742170521000223
Is something wrong with this record? Report it or request removal.
Discussion
Have you built on this work, tried to replicate it, or seen it applied in practice? Share what you know. Verified researchers and MARATTO™ domain experts can open a discussion, and any member can reply. Contributions are reviewed before they appear.
No discussion yet. Open the first thread.
New to MARATTO™? Create a free account.
