Capacity building needs of poultry farmers for quail production in Kwara State, Nigeria

This paper investigated the capacity building needs of poultry farmers for quail production in Kwara State, Nigeria. A questionnaire was used to elicit information from 80 randomly sampled poultry farmers from the Poultry Association of Nigeria, Kwara State Chapter. The findings revealed that the majority (70.0%) of the poultry farmers were male with a mean age of 44 years, married (75.0%) and formally educated (98.75%). The poultry farmers were mostly (78.75%) small-scale producers rearing less than or equal to 500 birds on their farms. Capacity building was highly needed for quail husbandry and management practices, feeding and nutrition, housing and equipment, processing and marketing of products, among others. Seven challenges were identified by the poultry farmers as severe challenges militating against the diversification of their poultry enterprise to include quail production. Chi-square analysis revealed a significant relationship between the poultry farmers’ capacity building needs for quail production and their age (X2 = 5.545), educational level (X2 = 11.859) and years of farming experience (X2 = 9.604). It was recommended that extension agencies should package a robust training programme for poultry farmers on the areas of capacity deficiencies indicated for quail production

Women cassava processors’ livelihood; implications for improved processing technology usage in Nigeria

The study compared the impact of the use of conventional and improved cassava processing technologies on the livelihood of women processors in north central Nigeria. This study adopts a quantitative method using a well-structured interview schedule for data collection from 410 respondents. Descriptive and inferential statistics such as an independent two-sample t-test was used to analyze the data. The majority of respondents were married and between the ages of 31 and 50. The mean years of education for improved technology users (ITU) were 8 years, while that of conventional technology users (CTU) was 10 years. Majority of both ITU (88.9%) and CTU (63.9%) had more than 10 years of processing experience. Majority of ITU (89.2%) and CTU (97.1%) were educated. A little above average (ITU - 53.7% and CTU - 50.2%) had medium household sizes and average annual income of ITU: N = 528,654 and CTU: N = 294,610. It was found that improved technology users had a very high livelihood status, while conventional technology users had a low livelihood status (ITU 75.25 and CTU 52.50) which indicated that the use of improved technology enhanced women’s contribution to family welfare and improved their livelihood. The results of the independent two-sample t-test show that there is a significant difference between the livelihood of improved and conventional technology users (t = −18.614, p = 0.000). The government should therefore focus on the development of appropriate and cost-effective farm-level processing technologies and further encourage the promotion of improved investment heavily in subsidized cassava processing machinery to afford processors to acquire these machines at a reasonable cost

An assessment of health practises among small-scale farmers in Kwara State, Nigeria

Objective The study examines the personal health practices of small scale farmers in Kwara State, Nigeria. Material and Methods Primary data were obtained using a well-structured questionnaire which was distributed to 120 small scale farmers. Descriptive statistical techniques such as frequency count, percentages were used, as well as Pearson Product Moment correlation and analysis for empirical analysis. Results Results revealed that more than half (55%) smoke cigarettes, about 48% drink alcohol to a very great extent, while the majority (64.5%) indicated they have not been screened to know their HIV status. On a positive note, the results further show that the majority 70%, 53.3%, 80% and 73.3% indicated that they eat a balance diet, engage in physical activity, practice safer sex, and regularly visit a health care centre, respectively. It also revealed that 77% have not attended any training on healthy living. The results of PPMC showed that the health knowledge of respondents had significant (p<0.01) influence on practices like cigarette smoking, eating a balance diet and regular visits to a health care centre. Conclusions It was concluded that health threatening practices such as cigarette smoking and drinking alcohol among the majority of the respondents, coupled with their lack of health knowledge from health professionals, contributes to the poor health status of respondents which eventually negatively influences the labour efficiency of farmers. It is recommended that farmers should endeavour to make use of health literacy programmes introduced to them at local government level, and that the government should provide more of these health literacy programmes