PRIVATE SECTOR PARTICIPATION IN AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION SERVICES IN NIGERIA

In Nigeria, agricultural extension services have been dominated by the Agricultural Development Programme (ADPs) since the mid-1970s. However, the experiences of farmers are changing. Traditional extension services linked with production objectives and blanket recommendations can no longer meet farmers’ expectations. Therefore, extension practitioners need to meet this challenge by seeking private sector participation in the funding and delivery of extension services. This paper noted that extension services provided by the private sector, even when it is funded by government, is a positive feature and government can play a strategic role in identifying gaps in the provision of extension services that can be filled through a brokerage role or by contracting service providers. It then concluded that the sustainability of private sector participants in extension service delivery requires a new orientation among staff. This will require some investment in staff training and reorientation.Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Effects of ethanolic leaf extract of Chrysophyllum albidum G. on biochemical and haematological parameters of albino Wistar rats

The effect of oral administration of the leaf extract of Chrysophyllum albidum G. on biochemical and haematological parameters were investigated in albino rats for 16 days. The extract did not show any significant effect (p > 0.05) on the plasma concentrations of total bilirubin, albumin and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) as well as the packed cell volume (PCV), haemoglobin (Hb), red blood cell (RBC), reticulocytes, neutrophils, lymphocytes, eosinophils, basophils, mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) and mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH). The concentration of the platelets was significantly decreased (p < 0.05) at 1000 mg/kg body weight, while white blood cell (WBC) was significantly increased at 500 mg/kg body weight. The doses significantly reduced (p < 0.05) plasma levels of AST, ALT, total protein, glucose and creatinine while urea was significantly increased. While the extract significantly increased the lung, brain and liver-body weights, the kidney, heart, testis, spleen and epididymis-body weights were not significantly affected. The result suggests that the leaf extract of C. albidum contains antiplatelet and hypoglycemic properties and exhibited selective organ toxicity to the rats

THE NIGERIAN AGRICULTURE AND POVERTY INCIDENCE: THE NEED FOR PRIVATE SECTOR EMPOWERMENT

Poverty in Nigeria is concentrated in rural areas. Low resource or resource-poor farmers characterized by preponderance of small farm units, fragile soils, rain-dependent, minimum inputs and poor yield dominate the agricultural sector. The incidence of poverty is highest among households in which the head is engaged in agriculture as the main source of income. Agricultural growth is therefore important to the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger in Nigeria. Conscious policy efforts by government towards poverty alleviation began during the SAP era. Some companies like Shell and certain State Governments have shown real interest in alleviating poverty through their agricultural programmes and policy statements. Nigeria’s current vision for agricultural development is expressed in the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS), the New Agricultural Policy (NAP), and the Rural Sector Development Strategy (RSDS). This paper posits that provision of electricity, potable water, health centres and formal schools will facilitate the sustainability of any impact of poverty alleviation programmes in Nigeria. Encouraging community development projects evolved by the communities themselves will minimize poverty incidence. Increasing the access of the poor to land and other productive resources will reduce poverty and generate employment. Development of infrastructural facilities in the rural areas has the two pronged approach of reducing poverty and developing the rural areas. Encouraging processing through adequate incentives to SMEs will also further empower the private sector.Farm Management, Food Security and Poverty,

Number 4 - Silence! Peace in Progress : The 2013 Election and Peaceful Post-Election Dispute Management in Kenya

On March 4, 2013, Kenyans went to the polls to elect the president, vice-president, senators, county governors, and members of parliament. Tension was high; fears and uncertainties gripped the nation, and the international community watched with keen interest. Five years earlier, on December 27, 2007, a similar event had resulted in a horrific post-election violence (PEV) that left thousands dead and hundreds of thousands displaced, and that disrupted the economic and social conditions of the country and the entire sub-region. As the 2013 elections approached, the fear became palpable that there might be a recurrence. Those fears were unrealized; Kenya had an election that the Commonwealth Observer Group, among other observers, reported to be “credible” and to have met “many of the benchmarks for democratic elections to which Kenya is committed.” Based on a series of interviews conducted in Kenya in June-December 2013, this paper evaluates the factors that contributed to preservation of electoral and post-election peace (PEP) in Kenya

Improving Housing Durability in Deprived Settlements of Lagos Megacity through Ingenuous Use of Sustainable Indigenous Materials

The challenge of housing delivery in many developing nations is exacerbated by the predominance of deprived settlements, according to recent publications of the United Nations Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat). In Nigeria, 30% of its urban population is currently living in Lagos megacity. The Lagos megacity region plays host to more than 200 officially recognized slum settlements. Going by the United Nations&rsquo; adopted definition, these settlements harbour households that suffer from lack of access to one or more housing deprivation measures such as durable housing, improved water, improved sanitation, sufficient living space and security of tenure. Nine major slum communities in this fast-growing megacity are presently benefiting from a massive World Bank assisted seven-year upgrading exercise that commenced in 2006. However, there is perplexity because emphasis is ostensibly on infrastructure, particularly roads. There is apparent neglect of the housing durability element. This paper argues that the approach adopted in this exercise is not exhaustive, and could in fact, portend danger for the future. The study discusses how the durability component of housing deprivation can be addressed through actions and policies that encourage ingenuous use of indigenous building materials

Fertility Behaviour and Women's Empowerment in Oyo State

This paper examines the relationship between women’s empowerment and fertility behaviour in Ibadan Metropolis.  Data for this paper was collected using systematic random sampling technique; the respondents were women aged 15-49years.  The data included descriptive information on the characteristics of husbands and wives.  Ordinal and Logistic regression were used as statistical tools.  The paper found that women’s empowerment affects their fertility. Fifty-one per cent of the respondents are not using any family planning method, while majority of them have formal education of at least primary school education.  It was also found that the discussion of the number of children to have significantly affects women’s fertility.  From the findings, encouraging both sexes to have more education will be important and necessary to increase the chances of women’s empowerment.  Furthermore, encouraging women to make use of family planning methods will be important and necessary to reduce women’s fertility. Keywords: Fertility, Empowerment, Family Planning, Reproductive rights, Autonom

Social Contract: The Case of Maternal Health in Nigeria 1999 – 2008

The state of maternal and child health is both an indicator of a society’s level of development and the performance of the health care delivery system.  Many complications and subsequent poor outcomes for women are lessened by providing good quality care, including early detection of problems and appropriate and timely interventions.  The paper used three rounds of the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey data in comparing women’s access and utilization of antenatal, delivery and postnatal care.  The trend was examined in the light of the urgency of attaining the MDGs.  The results show a worsening situation for safe motherhood. The social contract need be strengthened by the state intensifying its policies and programmes towards ensuring that the health and welfare of all persons are safeguarded and not endangered or abused; there are adequate medical and health facilities for all persons. Keywords: Social Contract, Maternal Health, Antenatal, Contraceptives, Postnata

Mycological, toxigenic and nutritional characteristics of some vended groundnut and groundnut products from three Northern Nigerian ecological zones

Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) and groundnut products are important, street-vended, energy-rich sources of protein and oils useful in human and animal diets although fraught with microbial contaminations. Fungi associated with vended samples of roasted groundnut, Kulikuli, Donkwa, peanut butter and Yaji obtained from Kano, Kaduna, Minna and Ibadan were isolated using pour-plate method. These were qualitatively screened for presence of mycotoxin on palm kernel agar medium and the concentrations of aflatoxin and deoxynivalenol content in the samples quantified through immunoassay. The fungal load of the samples was highest between 1.3X103 and 1.6X104 TFU/g while the frequency of occurrence of Aspergillus, Fusarium, Rhizopus and Penicillium species in the samples were 36%, 33%, 20% and 11%, respectively. Qualitatively, the highest aflatoxin intensity producers were two strains of Aspergillus flavus from a Yaji and Kulikuli sample. The highest aflatoxin concentration (115ppb) was recorded in the Kaduna Yaji sample and 65% of the samples had aflatoxin concentration above the FDA-prescribed 20ppb. The highest deoxynivalenol concentration (0.7ppm) was recorded in Kaduna Donkwa sample which was still lower than the 1.0ppb prescribed recommendation. Kano Yaji and Kaduna Kulilkuli had the highest protein content (60% and 44% respectively) while all samples were high in calcium and potassium (725.16-1292.75 and 325-1280mg/100g) respectively. There was fungal contamination of vended groundnut product samples and the detection of mycotoxins in all the samples. Regulatory bodies, especially in developing countries, need to set quality standards and ensure compliance of the same in street vended food products for product and consumer safety.Keywords: Groundnut products, Mycotoxigenic properties, Deoxynivalenol, Aflatoxin, Nutritional compositionAfr. J. Biomed. Res. Vol. 22 (January, 2019); 65- 7

Three Decades of Adoption and Diffusion Research in Nigeria: Lessons and Prospects

Adoption of innovations is critical to the process of change in human societies. In Nigeria, the earliest adoption studies were conducted around 1970. The advent and proliferation of World Bank supported Agricultural Development Programmes (ADPs) in the 1980s however spurred offseveral adoption and diffusion studies, many of which are reviewed in this paper. The analysis showed that socio-economic factors are the most commonly considered variables in adoption studies in Nigeria. Several studies in the 1980s measured adoption rates of innovations, determinedfactors influencing adoption and identified differences in the characteristics of different client groups. By the 1990s, other issues such as types of innovations easily adopted and the time-lag in innovation adoption anddiffusion were thefoci ofadoption anddiffusion research in Nigeria. Thefindings of this study suggest that there is some difficulty in data collection in the conduct of adoption and diffusion research in Nigeria. It therefore recommended the use of Geographic Information System (G1S) data in the study ofuptake of innovations by small farmers and standardization of scales for measuring several variables in adoption and diffusion research