Abstract

This study examines the contribution of agroforestry to food production and income generation in Sapoba, Edo State, Nigeria. About 60 farmers were purposively selected from the area. Structured questionnaires were administered on the respondents to elicit answers on their socioeconomic characteristics and food production operations. Data were subjected to descriptive statistics, production function and gross margin analyses. Results show that average age of farmers was 49.2 years and about 83.3% are married while 82% were male. An average farmer has a fairly large household of 6.5, cultivating about 1.12 ha of land typifying a small scale holding. The results of the regression show that farm size, maize and cassava had positive coefficient and are significant at 5%. The study also reveals that an average farmer realizes up to N966, 204.17 from the sales of the major crops in the study area. It is hereby recommended that young unemployed graduates and school leavers should be encouraged by the government, through the provision of farm input and takeoff capital, to go into farming as it has been discovered that farming is profitable and a ready source of food supply.

Key words: Agroforestry, food production, income generation, Sapoba, Nigeria.