FARMERS’ PERCEPTION OF FRAUDULENT PRACTICES AMONG AGRICULTURAL INPUT RETAILERS IN SOUTHWEST NIGERIA

This study examined fraudulent practices among agricultural input retailers and farmers' perceptions of these practices. A multistage random sampling technique was used to select 75 registered maize farmers in the Ibadan/Ibarapa Agricultural zone of Oyo State, Nigeria. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data on farmers’ perceptions of fraudulent practices among agricultural input retailers. The data gathered was analyzed using descriptive statistics, principal component analysis (PCA), and the Tobit regression models. From the results, the majority of the farmers indicated that the sale of expired agrochemicals, including fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, broken and diseased seeds, false labelling, and adjusted measuring scales were the poignant fraudulent practices among the agricultural input retailers. Farmers perceived that fraudulent practices cause impacts on maize yield, affect food security and produce marketing, reduce farmers’ profit, affect agricultural development, and increase nonfarm activities. From these results, it is evident that fraudulent practices negatively impacted agricultural production. Therefore, mechanisms must be put in place to curb the sale and proliferation of substandard agricultural inputs. The concerned stakeholders in the agricultural sector should set a standard regulatory system that will certify and monitor the quality of inputs.