Farmers’ Behaviour towards Utilisation of Jatropha Curcas for Environmental Mitigation in Oyo State, Nigeria

The dysfunctional environment caused by soil erosion, wind erosion, deforestation, desertification, issues of flood was due to the effect of greenhouse gases emanating as a result of various activities of man and industries. Consequently, this has prompted the exploitation of Jatropha curcas for mitigating the environment. Therefore, this study was carried out to examine farmers’ behaviour towards utilisation of Jatropha curcas for mitigation of environment in the study area. A multistage sampling procedure was used in selecting 120 farmers from 217 trained Jatropha farmers across Ido and Akinyele Local Government Areas in Oyo State. The data was analysed using frequencies, percentages, mean scores, and pearson product moment correlation. The result for the study showed that majority of the respondents had mean age of 44.4± 10.8 with majority also being male (66.7%) and formal education (91.7%). The result revealed that there was significant relationship between socio-economic characteristics of the respondents and farmers’ behaviour towards utilization of Jatropha curcas for environmental mitigation. There was correlation between farmers’ awareness on cultivation of Jatropha curcas and their behavior towards utilisation of Jatropha curcas for environmental mitigation (r = 0.399**, p < 0.05). The respondents’ attitude was significantly related to their behavior towards utilization of Jatropha curcas for environmental mitigation (r = - 0.182*, p < 0.05). The study showed that awareness and attitude of farmers strongly influence their behaviour towards utilization of Jatropha curcas for environmental mitigation. The implication of this study is to ensure that the environment becomes free of hazards and degradation which affect survival of the ecosystem and biodiversity. Hence, government should join in the advocacy to open continuous channels of communication on the importance of Jatropha to motivate farmers to having right behaviour towards utilization of Jatropha curcas as a measure to mitigate the environment. Keywords: Behaviour, utilisation, Jatropha curcas, farmers, mitigation, environment