Biodiversity Conservation Friendliness Status of Rural Farmers in Abak Agricultural Zone of Akwa Ibom State

ABSTRACT

Consolidating on farmers’ agro-ecological knowledge to design environmental-friendly agricultural systems is crucial given the environmental impact of commercial agriculture. The study aimed at assessing the awareness level of the respondents on biodiversity conservation, their biodiversity conservation information source(s), respondents’ information seeking behaviour and their perception towards biodiversity conservation. A survey was conducted on 120 respondents using simple random sampling procedure. Data collected were analysed using frequency distributions, and composite index analytical technique. Findings revealed that all of the respondents had average to high level of awareness of biodiversity conservation practices. Findings also revealed that the information on biodiversity conservation were mostly gotten from friends/neighbors, other farmers, radio/television and internet/electronic mails. The respondents had very positive or favourable perception of biodiversity conservation but biodiversity conservation information seeking behaviour of the respondents was not quite high. Six (6) independent variables contributed a multiple correlation influence (R= 0.606) on the respondents’ perception on biodiversity conservation. However, awareness of biodiversity conservation (b = 0.598, t = 6.882, P = 0.000) was found to significantly and statistically influence the respondents’ perception on biodiversity conservation. These findings are crucial for policy orientations, research and development to efficiently support the implementation of more environmental-friendly farming systems in the study area.