Agricultural Economics and Extension Services

Nigeria are at risk of climate variability and change; the fisheries sectors are no exception. The study examined the vulnerability of fish farmers in Ondo and Ekiti States of Nigeria to Climate change. A total of 120 respondents were purposively selected, interviewed and used for data analysis. Result indicated that the fish farmers in Ondo and Ekiti States witnessed unprecedented change in weather conditions as reflected in unusual excessive downpour of rain thus affecting their productivity through flooding. Most of these fish producers were young, mainly males, literates, and experienced fish farmers but relied mainly on personal savings and money borrowed from friends and relatives for fish farming. They practiced the extensive system of fish culture, utilizing local feeds and depended mainly on streams, rivers and rainfall. Fish production is concentrated in wet season. Most farm sizes were below 1 ha, and utilized earthen pond. About 65% experienced flooding with about 61.6% loosing within 3501 to 5000 fishes at a time. All categories of fishes were flooded. Majority of the fish farms were not insured by any insurance company while the few that were insured experienced untimely and inadequate compensation, also very few received compensation from the Government. Climate change resulted in low productivity, low income, starvation, poor health as well as poor standard of living of the respondents.

The study examined the use of children and youths as domestic servants in Ekiti and Ondo States of Nigeria. Using a snowballing technique in selecting 80 respondents from the two states, findings of the study shows that the domestic servants were mainly from Benue and Oyo States and Republic of Benin/Togo. They are young and mostly females with low educational background. Reasons for working as domestic servants include inability to pay school fees, low academic performance, and parent’s separation and family problems. There is no definite contract of employment or specifications for jobs done. They work for long hours with no compensation; living conditions are poor and have no definite plan for future. The study recommends that the Federal government should map out policies and programmess to reduce poverty and encourage basic education with special consideration for the girl child in poor rural areas of Nigeria.

This study assesses the effectiveness of the usages of mobile phone-based innovations to reaching small scale farmers in Nigeria using Kwara State growth enhancement support scheme as a case study. Two hundred farmers were randomly selected from four local government areas in the state. A structured interview schedule was used for eliciting information from them. The study revealed that 53.5, 51.0 & 87.2 percents of the respondents' respectively benefited from improved seeds of maize, rice and two bags of fertilizers each. Other benefits of the program included quick accessibility of improved and subsidized farm inputs, increased production and resuscitation of farmer's confidence in government programs. The shortcomings of the program, however, include telephony network failure, low level of awareness among farmers, cumbersome procedure of getting approval from cellulants, low density coverage of agro-dealers, and supply of fertilizer and maize seeds. To enhance grassroots farmers' productive capacity, the study recommends a grassroots e-wallet awareness campaign, improvement of rural telephony networking for improved interconnectivity between helpline staff and cellulants, and the scaling up of the quantity of input supply by government to accelerate and increase the production capacity of the farmers.

The issues of food security and family sustenance have been a major problem in recent times. A large number of the urban populace has not been able
to provide the food need of their family. Due to urban expansion, there is limited or no land for subsistence farming. The few that have the opportunity
withdrew due to pilfering and competing time for office work, home and the farm. In order to deal with the crisis, civil servants formed cooperative
societies which engaged in the bulk purchase of food items for the co-operators. The bill of food items purchased serves as loans which were deducted
from their salaries. The study examines the effectiveness of cooperative societies in ensuring household food security and sustainability of civil
servants in urban cities of Ondo state. A total of 180 civil servants were randomly selected and interviewed for the study. Findings show that majority
48.33% of the respondents patronize the consumer cooperative societies monthly to purchase the food need of the family, while 32.78% patronize
the societies quarterly. The most important reason for patronizing being getting cheaper food prices than the market price and the ease of payment.
Some at the end of the month, after all deductions made from their salaries, rarely have something to take home but believe in a Yoruba adage which
says ‘Tebi bati kuro ninu ise, ise buse’ literarily meaning that when hunger is out of poverty, then poverty is drastically reduced. Result of the probit
model reveals a significant relationship between consumers’ cooperatives and household food security, a positive significant relationship between
educational status, income and food security. However, there is a negative relationship between family size and food security, indicating that the
higher the family size, the greater the level of food insecurity.

Rural Nigeria still depends largely on the dictates of weather for survival and sustenance. Supply of water for domestic and agricultural production is a preoccupation of the womenfolk. This study used focused group discussions and interviews of 400 respondents randomly selected from the two senatorial districts of Ekiti State to assess the adaptive capacity of the women folk to rural water accessibility as affected by climate change from January 2008- January 2010.
Findings shows that the women in rural Ekiti have no access to information on climate change and the technological options to manage climate variability are poor, have no plan, finance, technological or any institutional support to adapt to climate
change. The strategies adopted are mainly traditional. With respect to water supply, they resort to unhygienic sources of springs, streams and lakes and so the children are prone to vagaries of water related diseases. They trek long distances on farm to look for irrigation water while a few plant vegetables near streams. Majorities are idle, stay off farm and suffer from hunger in off season. Women’s poor adaptation to
climate change results in decline in yields and productivity from agriculture causing fluctuations in food prices and increased number of people at risk of hunger and food insecurity.

The study was carried out to investigate gender differences in rural households’ food security coping strategies in South-Western Nigeria. A multi stage sampling technique was used in selecting 252 respondents utilized for the study. A well structured questionnaire was used to elicit information from them. The result shows that the females were older than the male with a mean age of 50 and 45 years respectively. Most of the male respondents were married as against the females. There were more divorced/separated, widowed and cohabiting women than men. The male respondents have larger household sizes than the females. Although a higher proportion of both genders were literate, the literacy level of the male gender was higher than that of the females. While most of the respondents were farmers, the study shows heterogeneity of occupation which contradicts the assumptions of the rural people as a homogeneous group. The male households were more food secure than the female households. Though the consumption of less expensive food was ranked first among both genders, there are wide variations in the food security coping strategies utilized. Some top coping strategies utilized by the male gender includes rationing money had to buy prepared food and migration to cities and towns while those of the female gender include occupation diversification/ multiple jobs, purchase of food on credit and the sale of assets such as land and jewelries. The female genders were more hit by food insecurity than their male counterparts. The study recommends the recognition of heterogeneous marital status of the female gender and occupational diversity in food security interventions. It is germane to intensify education of rural dwellers on family planning. Strategic policies on food security in Nigeria should be based on gender

Palm oil is one of the commodities produced in rural Nigeria whose consumption daily in the human diet and use as an industrial raw material have increased its potentials for income generation and poverty alleviation. This study examined the contribution of palm oil production to income generation among 120 small-scale farmers selected from the farming communities in Ekiti State, Nigeria. Responses to a structured interview schedule were analyzed using frequency counts and percentages while profitability was determined with data provided on costs and revenue. Palm oil producers were mainly middle-aged married females with low literacy level and operated on small-scale farms (< 2 ha) grown mainly to Dura variety of oil palm. Most farmers used modern processing methods (motorized hydraulic pressers and combined hydraulic pressers and nut crackers) and incurred ₦3,000 transportation cost and ₦5,000-10,000 labour cost per processing session. The Gross Margin averaged ₦69,600 between 2008 and 2012 while processing cost was ₦0.57 for every ₦1.00 return. The major challenges are labour shortage and yield variation due to climate change while high costs of labour and processing equipment affected profitability. Farmers should form cooperatives to: pool resources and acquire modern equipment so as to increase scale of operations, reduce extraction cost and enhance revenue; access credit; benefit from training on the use of modern processing machines and education on adaptation to climate change

The study was carried out to access the “City Greening: A House a Tree” programme of the Ondo state government. Multistage and simple random sampling techniques were used to select 80 respondents utilized for the study while frequency counts and percentages, as well as Pearson Product Moment Correlation, were used in data analysis. The study shows that most of the respondents interviewed were young, married, literate and dominated by Male headed households. Most of them were aware of the tree planting programme through Government officials/ Agricultural Extension agents. The various levels of participation include obtaining seedlings from Ministry of Environment (MOE), Sensitization and Mobilization, Planting of trees, watering of trees and given moral support. Tree species mostly planted are Step by step (Terminalia mentabris) and Tropical Almond (terminalia catapa ). Others are meilgna tree (Gmeligna arborea), fruits /Oranges, (thuja orientals) and Masquerade tree (polyathia longifolia). Most of them planted three to six seedlings, and the rate of survival was very high. The benefits derived from the trees includes: protecting the building from been blown off by wind and reducing excessive environmental heat. It also helped in reducing erosion, creating the opportunity for pleasure and providing food for man/ animals respectively. The highest constraints to the survival of tree planting programme in Ondo state is destruction by domestic animals, followed by lateness in obtaining seedlings from the MOE. The study established a significant relationship between city greening program and sustainable ecosystem management. The study recommends continuous promotion of the program through the use of extension agents, television and radio programmes and the enforcement of Legislations for sustainable ecosystem management.

The study examines the awareness and use of non-chemical methods of prevention and control of storage pests of grains from
an international audience perspective. A total of 21 experts that participated in the International research and development
course on Food security and grain storage technologies and Management technology training programme in Israel was utilized
for the study, while a structured questionnaire was used to elicit information from them. Frequency counts and percentages
were used in data analysis, and pie chart was employed in result presentation. Findings confirmed a very high rate of grain loss
to storage pests across the globe with most farmers utilizing the chemical control measures only. The use of probe traps is the
most common non chemical prevention/ control measures people are aware/ conversant with, followed by the use of light and
pheromones while the awareness of the use of food, carton and water are still very low among the respondents. Perception of
the applicability of the use of food, pheromones, light and cartons as non-chemical methods of storage pests’ prevention and
control was very high among the respondents. The study established the relative advantages of the non-chemical control
methods over the chemical methods as being cheap, readily available, easily applicable and affordable. It recommends the
extensive spread of information on the use of non-chemical control method of storage pests among farmers; capacity building
of extension agents and farmers, local manufacture of Probe traps and improved electricity supply to enhance effective
utilization of light. Demonstrations of these methods should be made to farmers via multi-media to ensure their adoption.

The study was carried out to investigate gender differences in rural households’ food security coping strategies in South-Western Nigeria. A multi stage sampling technique was used in selecting 252 respondents utilized for the study. A well-structured questionnaire was used to elicit information from them. The result shows that the females were older than the male with a mean age of 50 and 45 years respectively. Most of the male respondents were married as against the females. There were more divorced/separated, widowed and cohabiting women than men. The male respondents have larger household sizes than the females. Although a higher proportion of both genders were literate, the literacy level of the male gender was higher than that of the females. While most of the respondents were farmers, the study shows heterogeneity of occupation which contradicts the assumptions of the rural people as a homogeneous group. The male households were more food secure than the female households. Though the consumption of less expensive food was ranked first among both genders, there are wide variations in the food security coping strategies utilized. Some top coping strategies utilized by the male gender includes rationing money had to buy prepared food and migration to cities and towns while those of the female gender include occupation diversification/ multiple jobs, purchase of food on credit and the sale of assets such as land and jewelries. The female genders were more hit by food insecurity than their male counterparts. The study recommends the recognition of heterogeneous marital status of the female gender and occupational diversity in food security interventions. It is germane to intensify education of rural dwellers on family planning. Strategic policies on food security in Nigeria should be based on gender.

In Nigeria several occupations and practices are gender biased right from their names and references. The womenfolk are not heard of but it was discovered that in almost all local markets in Nigeria, women engage in the sales of herbal products for the treatment of numerous ailments however, there are no available data of their contributions to herbal medicine. It is on this note that this study was carried out to examine the gender dimension of herbal medicine&#39;s knowledge and practice in Ekiti and Ondo States. A multi-stage random sampling method was used in selecting 140 respondents from the two States. A structured interview schedule was used in collecting the data. Results of the findings indicate that majority (81.4%) of herbal medicine practitioners in Ekiti and Ondo States were women. Data show a high level of patronage and effectiveness. Most of them inherited the practice from their parents but a few males learned it through informal training. Both genders engaged in th...

This study assesses the effectiveness of the usages of mobile phone-based innovations to reaching small scale farmers in Nigeria using Kwara State growth enhancement support scheme as a case study. Two hundred farmers were randomly selected from four local government areas in the state. A structured interview schedule was used for eliciting information from them. The study revealed that 53.5, 51.0 & 87.2 percents of the respondents’ respectively benefited from improved seeds of maize, rice and two bags of fertilizers each. Other benefits of the program included quick accessibility of improved and subsidized farm inputs, increased production and resuscitation of farmer’s confidence in government programs. The shortcomings of the program, however, include telephony network failure, low level of awareness among farmers, cumbersome procedure of getting approval from cellulants, low density coverage of agro-dealers, and supply of fertilizer and maize seeds. To enhance grassroots farmers’...

A proportionate number of Nigerian youths engaged in Okada riding coined (Okada) business 'Commercial motorcyclist'. The business has drained manpower from the vocational sectors of the Nigerian economy. The study was carried out to assess the Thrust and Tug Nexus for Okada business among Youths and the implications for their future development. A total of 300 respondents were randomly selected from the list of registered Okada riders in 16 take off points from Ekiti and Ondo states while a structured questionnaire was used to elicit information from them. The findings of the study show that most of the Okada riders were young and married with

The study was carried out to access the "City Greening: A House a Tree" programme of the Ondo state government. Multistage and simple random sampling techniques were used to select 80 respondents utilized for the study while frequency counts and percentages, as well as Pearson Product Moment Correlation, were used in data analysis. The study shows that most of the respondents interviewed were young, married, literate and dominated by Male headed households. Most of them were aware of the tree planting programme through Government officials/ Agricultural Extension agents. The various levels of participation include obtaining seedlings from Ministry of Environment (MOE), Sensitization and Mobilization, Planting of trees, watering of trees and given moral support. Tree species mostly planted are Step by step (Terminalia mentabris) and Tropical Almond (terminalia catapa). Others are meilgna tree (Gmeligna arborea), fruits /Oranges, (thuja orientals) and Masquerade tree (polyathia longifolia). Most of them planted three to six seedlings, and the rate of survival was very high. The benefits derived from the trees includes: protecting the building from been blown off by wind and reducing excessive environmental heat. It also helped in reducing erosion, creating the opportunity for pleasure and providing food for man/ animals respectively. The highest constraints to the survival of tree planting programme in Ondo state is destruction by domestic animals, followed by lateness in obtaining seedlings from the MOE. The study established a significant relationship between city greening program and sustainable ecosystem

The study was carried out to investigate gender differences in rural households' food security coping strategies in SouthWestern Nigeria. A multi stage sampling technique was used in selecting 252 respondents utilized for the study. A well-structured questionnaire was used to elicit information from them. The result shows that the females were older than the male with a mean age of 50 and 45 years respectively. Most of the male respondents were married as against the females. There were more divorced/separated, widowed and cohabiting women than men. The male respondents have larger household sizes than the females. Although a higher proportion of both genders were literate, the literacy level of the male gender was higher than that of the females. While most of the respondents were farmers, the study shows heterogeneity of occupation which contradicts the assumptions of the rural people as a homogeneous group. The male households were more food secure than the female households. Though the consumption of less expensive food was ranked first among both genders, there are wide variations in the food security coping strategies utilized. Some top coping strategies utilized by the male gender includes rationing money had to buy prepared food and migration to cities and towns while those of the female gender include occupation diversification/ multiple jobs, purchase of food on credit and the sale of assets such as land and jewelries. The female genders were more hit by food insecurity than their male counterparts. The study recommends the recognition of heterogeneous marital status of the female gender and occupational diversity in food security interventions. It is germane to intensify education of rural dwellers on family planning. Strategic policies on food security in Nigeria should be based on gender.

The study examines the awareness and use of non-chemical methods of prevention and control of storage pests of grains from an international audience perspective. A total of 21 experts that participated in the International research and development course on Food security and grain storage technologies and Management technology training programme in Israel was utilized for the study, while a structured questionnaire was used to elicit information from them. Frequency counts and percentages were used in data analysis, and pie chart was employed in result presentation. Findings confirmed a very high rate of grain loss to storage pests across the globe with most farmers utilizing the chemical control measures only. The use of probe traps is the most common non chemical prevention/ control measures people are aware/ conversant with, followed by the use of light and pheromones while the awareness of the use of food, carton and water are still very low among the respondents. Perception of the applicability of the use of food, pheromones, light and cartons as non-chemical methods of storage pests' prevention and control was very high among the respondents. The study established the relative advantages of the non-chemical control methods over the chemical methods as being cheap, readily available, easily applicable and affordable. It recommends the extensive spread of information on the use of non-chemical control method of storage pests among farmers; capacity building of extension agents and farmers, local manufacture of Probe traps and improved electricity supply to enhance effective utilization of light. Demonstrations of these methods should be made to farmers via multi-media to ensure their adoption.

Production systems and livelihoods in South Western Nigeria are at risk of climate variability and change; the fisheries sectors are no exception. The study examined the vulnerability of fish farmers in Ondo and Ekiti States of Nigeria to Climate change. A total of 120 respondents were purposively selected, interviewed and used for data analysis. Result indicated that the fish farmers in Ondo and Ekiti States witnessed unprecedented change in weather conditions as reflected in unusual excessive downpour of rain thus affecting their productivity through flooding. Most of these fish producers were young, mainly males, literates, and experienced fish farmers but relied mainly on personal savings and money borrowed from friends and relatives for fish farming. They practiced the extensive system of fish culture, utilizing local feeds and depended mainly on streams, rivers and rainfall. Fish production is concentrated in wet season. Most farm sizes were below 1 ha, and utilized earthen pond. About 65% experienced flooding with about 61.6% loosing within 3501 to 5000 fishes at a time. All categories of fishes were flooded. Majority of the fish farms were not insured by any insurance company while the few that were insured experienced untimely and inadequate compensation, also very few received compensation from the Government. Climate change resulted in low productivity, low income, starvation, poor health as well as poor standard of living of the respondents.

Palm oil is one of the commodities produced in rural Nigeria whose consumption daily in the human diet and use as an industrial raw material have increased its potentials for income generation and poverty alleviation. This study examined the contribution of palm oil production to income generation among 120 small-scale farmers selected from the farming communities in Ekiti State, Nigeria. Responses to a structured interview schedule were analyzed using frequency counts and percentages while profitability was determined with data provided on costs and revenue. Palm oil producers were mainly middle-aged married females with low literacy level and operated on small-scale farms (< 2 ha) grown mainly to Dura variety of oil palm. Most farmers used modern processing methods (motorized hydraulic pressers and combined hydraulic pressers and nut crackers) and incurred ₦3,000 transportation cost and ₦5,000-10,000 labour cost per processing session. The Gross Margin averaged ₦69,600 between 2008 and 2012 while processing cost was ₦0.57 for every ₦1.00 return. The major challenges are labour shortage and yield variation due to climate change while high costs of labour and processing equipment affected profitability. Farmers should form cooperatives to: pool resources and acquire modern equipment so as to increase scale of operations, reduce extraction cost and enhance revenue; access credit; benefit from training on the use of modern processing machines and education on adaptation to climate change.

Rural Nigeria still depends largely on the dictates of weather for survival and sustenance. Supply of water for domestic and agricultural production is a preoccupation of the womenfolk. This study used focused group discussions and interviews of 400 respondents randomly selected from the two senatorial districts of Ekiti State to assess the adaptive capacity of the women folk to rural water accessibility as affected by climate change from January 2008- January 2010. Findings shows that the women in rural Ekiti have no access to information on climate change and the technological options to manage climate variability are poor, have no plan, finance, technological or any institutional support to adapt to climate change. The strategies adopted are mainly traditional. With respect to water supply, they resort to unhygienic sources of springs, streams and lakes and so the children are prone to vagaries of water related diseases. They trek long distances on farm to look for irrigation wat...

The study examined the use of children and youths as domestic servants in Ekiti and Ondo States of Nigeria. Using a snowballing technique in selecting 80 respondents from the two states, findings of the study shows that the domestic servants were mainly from Benue and Oyo States and Republic of Benin/Togo. They are young and mostly females with low educational background. Reasons for working as domestic servants include inability to pay school fees, low academic performance, and parent’s separation and family problems. There is no definite contract of employment or specifications for jobs done. They work for long hours with no compensation; living conditions are poor and have no definite plan for future. The study recommends that the Federal government should map out policies and programmess to reduce poverty and encourage basic education with special consideration for the girl child in poor rural areas of Nigeria.