Livelihood Diversification among Arable Farm Households in the Forest Zone of Oyo State, Nigeria

The study assessed the livelihood diversification strategies among the arable farm households in the forest zone of Oyo State, Nigeria. A 3-stage random sampling technique was used to select a total of 160 arable farm households around some selected forest reserves for the study. A well-structured questionnaire was used for the collection of data. The analytical tools employed were descriptive statistics, livelihood index, and logistic regression model. The findings of the study revealed that majority of the respondents were male (57.5%), educated (81.2%), married (71.9%), and had a household size of about 7 members. Non timber forest products (NTFP) gathering (39.38%) was the most preferred livelihood diversification strategy followed by transportation business (16.88%), petty trading (13.75%), artisanal work (12.5%), firewood sales (6.25%), wage employed (4.38%), charcoal production (3.75%), timber sales (1.88%), and hunting (1.25%) in that order respectively. The forest-related livelihoods accounted for 52.5% of the predominant livelihood strategies, whereas, non-forest-related livelihoods accounted for 47.5%. The significant predictors of the probability of engaging in forest-related strategies include; primary education, and secondary education (10% each); tertiary education, and household size (1% each), and age of household head (5%). The study recommends the intensification of local capacities of the farmers such as access to education and training facilities to enable them access and process information, and credit to enhance their livelihood and minimize forest dependence

Effects of Adoption of Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potato Varieties on Farm Income and Output among Growing Households in Ebonyi and Abia States, Nigeria

The study comparatively analyzed the effect of the adoption of orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) varieties on farm income and output of growing households in Ebonyi and Abia States, Nigeria using a well-structured questionnaire on 256 OFSP farmers from four agricultural zones. The data obtained were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics such as means, percentages, tables and frequency, adoption score index (of 7 point likert-type scale) and Z-test. The result on socio-economic characteristic showed that the average age of the sweet potato farmers in Ebonyi and Abia States was 47.11 and 49.86 years, respectively, with females dominating in Ebonyi, while males dominated in Abia. Farmers’ average farm size was 2.10ha and 1.71ha respectively, and years of farming experience of 8.52 and 9.65 years. The level of adoption of OFSP varieties showed that in Ebonyi, farmers were at the evaluation stage for UMUSP0/3 (X=2.78) and trial stage for UMUSP0/I (X=3.04), while in Abia, the farmers were at the trial stage for UMUSP0/1 (X=3.63) and UMUSP0/3 (X=3.78). The Z-test result showed that there were significant differences in farm income and output of OFSP farm households at 1.0% probability levels in both States. Sweet potato farmers in both Ebonyi and Abia States were seriously constrained by low extension visit, inadequate credit facilities and poor government support. The study therefore recommended that OFSP farmers should be strategically given more support to generally boost OFSP adoption, income, output and productivity across the country

Quality attributes of sweet potato flour as influenced by variety, pretreatment and drying method

The effect of pretreatment methods (soaking in water, potassium metabisulphite solution, and blanching) and drying methods (sun and oven) on some quality attributes of flour from ten varieties of sweet potato roots were investigated. The quality attributes determined were chemical composition and functional properties. Data obtained were subjected to descriptive statistics, multivariate analysis of variance, and Pearson's correlation. The range of values for properties of sweet potato flour were: moisture (8.06–12.86 ± 1.13%), starch (55.76–83.65 ± 6.82%), amylose (10.06–21.26 ± 3.92%), total sugar (22.39–125.46 ± 24.68 μg/mg), water absorption capacity (140–280 ± 26), water solubility (6.89–26.18 ± 3.80), swelling power (1.66–5.00 ± 0.50), peak viscosity (24.50–260.92 ± 52.61 RVU), trough (7.08–145.83 ± 34.48 RVU), breakdown viscosity (11.00–125.33 RVU), final viscosity (10.21–225.50 ± 60.55 RVU), setback viscosity (3.04–92.21 RVU), peak time (6.07–9.06 min) and pasting temperature (69.8–81.3°C). Variety had a significant (P 0.05) affect moisture, fat and lightness (L*). Drying method did not significantly (P > 0.05) affect fiber and L*. The interactive effect of variety, pretreatment and drying method had a significant (P < 0.001) effect on all the attributes except fat and fiber. Total sugar correlated significantly (P < 0.01) with water solubility (r = 0.88) of the flour samples. Variety was a dominant factor influencing attributes of sweet potato flour and so should be targeted at specific end uses

Performance of Improved Sweet Potato (Ipomea batatas L.) Varieties in Makurdi, Southern Guinea Savanna of Nigeria

Aim: To investigate the performance of some improved sweet potato varieties obtained from the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI), Umudike, Nigeria, for root yield and other yield components. Study Design: Field experiment. Place and Duration of Study: Teaching and Research Farm of the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi in Benue State, located in the Southern Guinea Savanna of Nigeria from June-November of 2010 and 2011. Materials and Methods: The treatments comprised of eleven sweet potato varieties [CIP 440141, K134, NASPOT4, NASPOT2, SPK004, TIS87/0087(check), CIP440037, 1900411, NARSP/05/007C, CIP440293 (orange skin and flesh) and NARSP/05/022 (orange flesh)] set out in randomized complete block design with three replications. Ten farmers were used for the preference test of the varieties. Results: Some vegetative growth parameters evaluated in the study (number of branches/plant, internodes length, number of leaves per plant and vine length) increased at different rates between 4 - 16 weeks after planting. Root diameter and length, number of saleable roots and weight varied with the varieties of sweet potato in Makurdi. NARSP/05/022 gave the highest number of leaves, number of roots (121817/ha) and weight (54151 kg/ha) at harvest, although it also had the highest incidence of sweet potato weevil infestation. This variety was the only one that had significantly higher saleable root weight than the check (TIS 87/0087). Saleable root weight correlated positively and significantly with number of saleable roots and root diameter. Conclusion: Farmers will likely consider NARSP/05/022 for adoption despite the high weevil infestation. For reasons other than root yield (taste and colour), farmers may adopt CIP440293

Assessment of Genetic Parameters for Important Agronomic Traits in Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam) Germplasm in Two Agro-ecological Regions of Nigeria

For an effective and efficient crop breeding program, collection of good genotypes that provides good agronomic background for the new variety to be developed must be available, and such genotypes must contain significant genetic variability for effective crop development. In order to determine the agronomic worth of a collection of sweetpotato genotypes so as to identify the superior ones under different agro-ecologies, and also to determine the extent of variability that exists among the genotypes, fifty-two genotypes were evaluated at Umudike (rainforest belt) and forty-eight at Otobi (humid guinea savannah) during the raining season using recommended protocols. While agronomic data were taken at 4 months after planting (MAP), sweetpotato virus disease (SPVD) incidence and severity scores were taken at 2 MAP. Results showed that significant (p&lt;0.001) variation exists among the genotypes for all the traits except weight of unmarketable roots in both locations. Genotype PYT/12/074 had the highest root yield of 29.33 t/ha at the rainforest belt followed by Solo-2 and PYT/12/105 with yield levels of 27.67 and 26.33 t/ha, respectively. At Otobi, same PYT/12/074 had the highest root yield of 27.74 t/ha followed by Kwara and PYT/12/105 with yield levels of 27.67 and 26.33 t/ha, respectively. The principal component analysis identified marketable root weight, number of marketable roots, SPVD incidence and severity as the most important traits that influenced the observed variation among the genotypes. The biplot analysis further identified most of the orange-fleshed genotypes as highly susceptible to SPVD. Genetic studies of the traits showed that while broad-sense heritability estimates ranged from moderate to high for the important agronomic and SPVD traits, the high GCV and genetic advance observed portends a high genetic gain and good breeding progress in the breeding program using the genotypes