WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR AGROFORESTRY BASED TECHNIQUES AS FOOD SECURITY OPTION FOR SMALLHOLDER OIL PALM FARMERS IN EDO STATE, NIGERIA.

The continuous decline in output of the monoculture oil palm production occupying vast land thereby affecting the production of other economic crops emanated the integration of agroforestry practices with based techniques option hence the study. This study was to examining the socioeconomic characteristics of the farmers and determining their willingness to pay for the agroforestry based techniques. Information were sourced with a well-structured questionnaire that formed the data. Multi-stage sampling technique was employed to obtain a random sample size of 250 respondents used for the analysis. Data were analyzed with the descriptive statistics and probit model. The result showed that 75.8% of the farmers were above 41 years of age, 60% female, 81.4% mostly primary education with 82.4% of 15 years of experience and 82% of them planted between 1-4 hectares while the probit result indicated that higher educational level at 1%, farming experience, management practices, sources of food and aesthetic at 5% each with annual income, crop types, logging of trees at 10% each significantly influenced and the likelihood for smallholder oil palm farmers willingness to pay for agroforestry based techniques. The study recommends the regular practice as it is another stream of income since oil palm monoculture is no longer enough for the teaming population in constant supply of food and raw materials. The study suggests the continuous practice of agroforestry based techniques as it enhances productivity, profitability and ecosystem sustainability still attends to the challenges in biodiversity conservation, climate change adaptation and mitigation and food secure.