Farmers' knowledge of and attitudes towards the use of inorganic fertilizers for Irish potato (Solanum tuberosum) production in Kabale district, Uganda

Abstract

Irish potato (Solanum tuberosum) is the fourth most significant food crop in the world after rice, maize and wheat. However, Irish potato production in Uganda is low with an average yield of 3 tonnes ha-1 without fertilizer use. This is ascribed to high soil nutrient mining coupled with low inorganic fertilizer use. In Kabale District, for example, farmers apply low rates (41.5kg-67.2kg/ha) compared to the recommended application rate of 120kg - 2 l 5kg/ha. There are a number of reasons for the low inorganic fertilizer use, including farmers' knowledge and attitudes. Therefore, the study assessed the farmers' knowledge and attitudes towards the use of inorganic fertilizer for Irish potato production in Kabale District. The target population comprised 363 farmers randomly selected, and 3 Agricultural officers with 4 suppliers of fertilizers purposively selected providing a sample size of 370 respondents. In testing the instruments, validity was found as 0.91 and reliability was found as 0.81. Validity and reliability coefficients were higher than 0.7, Cronbach Alpha which means that the instruments used were valid and reliable. A cross sectional survey design involving interviews and structured questionnaires was used. The results show that majority of respondents (60 .6%) use inorganic fertilizers. NPK is the most commonly used inorganic fertilizer. In terms of quantity, nearly one half (49%) of respondents applied 50kgs/ha while 65 .8% reported lack of sufficient technical knowledge in the use of inorganic fertilizer. The results revealed that there is a positive relationship between three knowledge variables and Irish potato yield as shown respectively (0.868, 0.684, 0.890, p-value<0.01). The results also show that farmers' attitudes were significantly positive to the use of inorganic fertilizers (r=0.417, p<0.05). The socio-economic variables examined were found to influence positively both knowledge and attitudes of the farmers in the use of fertilizers. Based on these results, it was concluded that farmers in Kabale used low fertilizer application rates and lacked sufficient knowledge but the attitudes were positive towards the use of inorganic fertilizer application needed to achieve high yields. It is, therefore, recommended that more sensitization and provision of technical services on inorganic fertilizer use be done and that the Government of Uganda should develop a mechanism for improving the accessibility of inorganic fertilizers by the farmers.