Influence of Social Capital Dimension on the Adoption of Organic broiler Production Practices in Anambra State, Nigeria

Abstract

Adoption of organic farming practices (OFP) is stimulated by adequate knowledge about the concept, resources, and access to markets. Social groups from where farmers draw their social capital play a critical role in awareness and adoption of (OFP) but have been underutilized over the years. Thus, this study examined influence of social groups on the adoption of organic broiler production in Anambra state, Nigeria. The three-stage sampling procedure was adopted to select 120 broiler farmers. Six Local Government Areas (LGAs) were selected based on their involvement in broiler production in the first stage. Two communities were randomly selected from each LGAs, and simple random sampling method was used to select ten farmers from each of the twelve selected communities. Data was collected on socioeconomic characteristics of farmers, social group participation and organic broiler production Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and logit at α 0.05. A household belong to an average of 4.55 social groups with diversity index average of 37.73%. Meeting attendance index average was 86.74% and average monthly cash contribution was N 1,500.02/month.  Years spent in school, experience, density index, training, meeting attendance index and aggregate social capital positively and significantly affect adoption of organic broiler production practices. Social capital improves the adoption of organic broiler production practices. This study therefore recommends that farmers should belong to more local level associations and attend meetings regularly.