Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies (ISSN: 2220-6140) Vol. 10, No. 4, pp. 68-80, August 2018 68 Farmers’ Preference for Soil and Water Conservation Practices in Nigeria: Analytic Hierarchic Process Approach Seyi Olalekan Olawuyi University of Fort Hare, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa seyidolapo1704@gmail.com Abstract: Enhancing agricultural production through sustainable soil/land and water conservation practices are vital to the sustenance of the human race as entrenched in the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals 2, 12 and 15 respectively. Smallholder farmers are faced with myriads of soil and water-related issues in production which make them vulnerable to land degradation and low productivity. This calls for policies to enhance sustainable food production; hence, the need for this study which highlighted the influencing dynamics governing the preference and use of SWC practices alternatives in Nigeria with particular reference to Osun State. Multi-stage sampling technique was adopted in this study to select the representative sample of 240 respondents. Data collected through primary source include information on selected farmers’ socio- economic attributes, institutional and farm level characteristics as well as the SWC practices prevalent in the study area. The SWC practices highlighted in this study include: Soil Management/Amendment Practices (SAP), Agronomic Practices (AP) and Cultivation Practices (CP). The data collected were analyzed with cross- tabulation analysis, AHP technique and the logit regression model. The results from AHP revealed that Agronomic Practices (AP) is the most preferred and used SWC practice option in the study area while marginal effects of the logit regression revealed that age, gender, years of formal education, membership of local level institutions, access to extension services and frequency of extension visit as well as farmers’ perception on the impact of extension visit are significant influencing dynamics governing the rural farmers’ preference and use of SWC practices alternatives in the study area. Hence, concerted efforts should be geared towards developing pro-farmers policies in line with these influencing dynamics. Keywords: Soil and water conservation, Preference, MCDM-AHP, Logit, Nigeria 1. Introduction Land degradation according to James and Ngala, (2015a) is a critical problem mostly caused by human activities. It is a major consequence of soil and water-related issue in agricultural production and partly that of climate change problem because there is groundwater loss due to increased temperature which often results in soil productivity decline. It usually occurs as a result of the interactions of various factors such as population pressure, obsolete, inefficient and traditional farming practices by humans. The traditional farming systems employed by most smallholder farmers who are also resourced poor have led to dwindling and reduced production output which in turn manifests in low revenue accrue and by extension vicious cycle of poverty. This ugly scenario has a negative effect on the availability and distribution of food crops especially the arable crops across the nation and especially the study area. However, past studies (for instance; Ezeaku, 2012; Dimelu, Ogboona and Enwelu, 2013; Babalola and Olayemi, 2013) have stressed on the significance of modern agricultural practices and the need for a transition from farmers’ obsolete farming techniques to improved modern practices such as SWC practices. It was further noted by these studies that improved farming practices can significantly have multiplier effects on the production output; which implies that, its capacity to improve the welfare of the populace cannot be underestimated. Therefore, against this background, this study examined the influencing dynamics driving the use of modern SWC practices by reflecting on the smallholder farmers’ preference and use of SWC practices alternatives. It is important to note that, efficient use of these modern farming practices is vital to the sustenance of the human race as entrenched in the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals 2, 12 and 15 respectively. And, nothing is more basic to the long-term survival of the human race than the availability of fertile soils to maintain plant and animal population. Yet, soils have been mined by erosion, constant cultivation and extraction of available nutrients (James and Ngala, 2015a). Therefore, because of this development, the policy calls for a sustainable agricultural development and production system such as Soil and Water Conservation (SWC) Practices came to the forefront. Soil and water conservation practices are practices or multi-practices that aim at achieving the following set of objectives.