HOME GARDEN PRACTICES AMONG UNIVERSITY STAFF IN ONDO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Home garden practices among universities staff in Ondo state was examined and a multistage sampling procedure through a purposive selection of universities was used to select 124 respondents for the study. Information was elicited form respondents with the aid of experts’ validated structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was used to collect primary data from respondents on socio-economic characteristics, crops planted and challenges of home garden practices. Descriptive statistics, t-test of independent samples and probit regression were the analytical tools employed for data analysis. Results revealed that the mean age of respondents was 43.6±4.7 years, 62.9% were male with 78.2% married and average years of experience of 12.5±3.8 years in home garden practices. The probit regression analysis indicated that age of staff, level of education, household size, farm size, income, availability of labour, and access to land and farm inputs significantly influenced the probability of staff engagement in home garden practices. The t-test of independent sample revealed that more male (t = 3.266; df = 122; p< 0.05) and non-academic staff (t = 2.046; df = 122; p< 0.05) engaged in home garden practices at 5% level of significance. Constraints facing university staff engaging in home garden practices included; stealing of crops (89.5%), animal invasion (63.7%) and pest infestation (70.2%), poor yield (79.0%), among others. It was discovered that home garden enhanced access to food thus promotes food diversity and fresh vegetables in households. It was recommended based on the findings that university staff should be encouraged in home garden practices, and access to farm inputs should be encouraged for sustainable home garden practices in the universities.