Factors influencing smallholder farmers’ adoption of organic farming in rural Nigeria

Organic farming is considered one of the promising sustainable agricultural systems that can promote green economy measures, especially in developing economies where smallholder agriculture forms the backbone of the economy. With increasing awareness of the health benefits of organic foods, there has been an increasing number of studies assessing the demand side (determinants of consumers' demand for organic products) within the global south. However, none of those studies have specifically addressed the supply side (factors influencing smallholder farmers’ adoption of organic farming). To scale up organic farming among smallholder farmers, there is a need to understand the factors influencing the adoption of organic farming. Using survey data from rural Nigeria, this paper applied Cragg’s double-hurdle model to assess the factors influencing smallholder farmers’ adoption of organic farming in rural Nigeria. The result showed that, while information about organic farming plays a major role in motivating farmers to adopt organic farming, it takes an organized organic marketing structure, and a premium on organic products to scale up adoption. There were no clear effects of personal traits such as age and location of the farmer in explaining adoption behavior. The findings demonstrated policy actions aimed at certification among smallholder organic farmers can facilitate system-wise organic farming in rural areas. However, the nature of such certification that will not jeopardize the agency of the farmers requires further investigation.