KeyWords Sustainable Development. Environment. Ecology. Indigenous Knowledge. Soil Fertility

ABSTRACT The article identified socio-economic and ecological factors influencing the practices of indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) in soil fertility conservation amidst farmers in Ekiti State, Nigeria. It specifically identified the various IKS practices used in conserving soil fertility; identified the reasons why the practices were used; determined the benefits of IKS utilisation in soil fertility conservation; and analysed the socio-economic and ecological factors influencing the use of IKS. The study was conducted using a multi-stage sampling technique to select 250 farmers in 20 communities drawn from the five administrative divisions of the State, namely: Ekiti North; Ekiti West; Ekiti East; Ekiti South; and Ekiti Central. Pre-tested structured and unstructured interview schedules were used to collect information from the respondents. Frequency distribution, percentages, mean and standard deviation were used to describe the data. Correlation and regression analyses were the inferential statistics used. The result of the inferential statistics showed that at P < 0.01 and 0.05 levels of significance, there was a positive and significant correlation between IKS utilisation and socio-economic factors such as age (r=0.260), family size (r=0.289), religion (r=0.132), farm size (r=0.180); and income level (r=0.252). Also, there existed a positive and strong association between IKS utilisation and association membership (t=1.769) and farming scope (t=3.741). Conversely, negative but significant relationship existed between IKS utilisation and soil (r= - 0.125), vegetation (r= - 0.409) and education level (r= - 0.177).

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