Farmers’ perception of alley cropping: a case study of IITA alley cropping programme participants

Abstract

Alley cropping or hedgerow intercropping is one of the many sub-systems of agroforestry technology. It has been introduced to farmers in many countries of West Africa including Nigeria by International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan. IITA established these alley farms and supervised its maintenance in order to achieve results. The farmers were also given incentives like tree seedlings, palm trees, cutlasses, to encourage them. This study is narrowed down to two villages- Alabata in Akinyele local government area of Oyo state and Ayepe in Ishokan local government area of Oshun state. All the fifty-five male farmers who are participating in the programme are purposively selected. They recognized that alley cropping helped to increase soil fertility, improved weed control and reduced pests. They also recognized certain constraints such as increased labour demand, competition among crops and weeding.