Spatial Distribution of Agro Dealers in Peri-Urban Area of Ibadan and Its Implication on Seed Distribution System

Adetumbi J.A., Omodele T, Akintoye N.A., Amusat A.S.

Volume 14 Issue 1

Global Journal of Science Frontier Researc

The agricultural input sectorinfluences farmers’ access to use productivity enhancing inputs.Among all these inputs, seeds are the most crucial in production cycle because it is the only biological input upon which all other components are applied.Information about agro-dealers in Nigeria, in terms of types of products sold as well as the number of dealers and how they are dispersed across the country has not been accurately documented, therefore this study attempts to show the distribution pattern of the agro-dealers in some semi-urban area of Ibadan, Oyo State Nigeria with a view to understanding their specific locations, determine the proportion that deal with seed as well as sources of their seeds.Six local government areas (Akinyele, Egbeda, Ido, Lagelu, Oluyole and Ona-ara)within semi -urban area of Ibadan where urbanization has not completely eroded farming activities were selected.One hundred and twenty-five agro-dealers,reached through snowballing research technique were interviewedusing structured questionnaire.Descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages were used to analyse the data obtained through the questionnaire. Also, EtrexTMGlobal Positioning System (GPS) was used to take the coordinates of the locations of the agro-input stores after which, the vector-based system (topological map overlay) was used to combine the features from agro-dealers and land-use polygons maps to create a new output feature, thus creating a new attribute relationship.The survey revealed regional variation in the density of agricultural input dealers and the types of products sold. Most agro-dealers are interested in selling agro chemicals because of quick turn-over, interest in sales of seed of some crops is still low and number of agricultural input dealers is grossly low compared to the land mass being used for agricultural purposes. The project presented a broad overview of the agricultural input sector in the study area and information provided can serve