Sustainable agricultural intensification with the adoption of efficient land management practices can increase productivity of farmers. This paper assessed the impacts of agricultural intensification and land management practices on maize productivity among famers in Oyo State, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 291 respondents and structured questionnaire was used to collect information. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Ruthenberg index, Labour Use Intensity Index, Fertilizer Use Intensity Index, Tobit regression, and Total Factor Productivity. Based on the results, the mean year of continuous cropping was 4.41years (±1.78), implying that the farmers were engaged in continuous cropping for approximately 4 years. The average labour use intensity was 249.96 manday/ha and the average fertilizer use-intensity was 205.60kg/ha, while less than half (41%) used improved maize varieties (IMV) across the zones. The most used land management practices were tractor usage (80.76%) and crop rotation (78.35%), bush burning (67.35%), and intercropping (60.82%). Also, the mean total factor productivity in the zones was found to be 0.123, indicating that maize productivity in the zones was low. At p<0.01, fertilizer use intensity, and IMV were significant and positively related to productivity. It is therefore concluded that use of IMV and fertilizer use intensity are the major drivers of agricultural intensification and maize productivity in the study area. Efforts should be made to make intense use of improved maize varieties and encourage optimum fertilizer usage by maize farmers to increase productivity.
Keywords: Land use intensity, Labour use intensity, Fertilizer use intensity, Improved Maize variety, Total factor productivity.
Citation: Alawode, O.O. (2026). Assessing the Impacts of Agricultural Intensification and Land Management Practices on Maize Productivity among Farmers in Oyo State, Nigeria. Adv Earth & Env Sci; 7(1):1-11.
DOI : https://doi.org/10.47485/2766-2624.1090