Analysis of Factors Affecting Watermelon Production in Ekiti State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study analysed the factors affecting watermelon production by watermelon farmers in Ekiti State, Nigeria. A snowball sampling technique was adopted in the selection of forty two watermelon farmers. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, Pearson Product Momment Correlation (PPMC) and factor analysis. Findings showed that 64.3percent of watermelon farmers were found in Ise Ekiti. The mean score of the respondent’s age was 39 years, 76.2percent of them were married with 10 years of farming experience. The most commonly grown watermelon variety was sugarbaby, 50percent of them used both personal and hired labour and 45.2 percent produced greater than 20tons/ha of watermelon. Majority of the farmers with mean score (3.79, 3.71, 3.57, 3.60 and 3.31 ) agreed that rainfall, transportation, storage of watermelon, market price of watermelon and Prevalence of pest and watermelon disease were the factors that affects production of watermelon in the study area. The study revealed that lack of capital , poor markets, perishable nature of watermelon and lack of technology for large scale production with mean score 2.38, 2.19, 2.17 and 2.07 respectively were the serious constraints faced by farmers during the cause of production. PPMC analysis (r=0.047, 0.000, 0.000 and 0.002) showed that there was significant and positive relationship between years of experience, labour source, farm size, planting of other crops and yield of watermelon. The result of the factor analysis showed that the factors affecting watermelon production were cultural factor, personal/economic factor, climatic/soil factor and infrastructural factor. The foregoing suggests that research institutes should make available improved seeds that are not susceptible to pest and diseases to the grass-root watermelon farmers, to ensure high yield and returns.