Assessing the effect of off-farm income diversification on agricultural production in rural Nigeria

Farming as a primary source of income has failed to guarantee sufficient livelihood for most farming households in developing countries, and agricultural development policies have largely produced little improvement, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Diversification into off-farm activities has become the norm. While the poverty and inequality effects of off-farm income have been analyzed in different developing countries, much less empirical studies have been conducted on the impact of off-farm income on agricultural production and efficiency. Using survey data from rural Nigeria, this article examines the effect of off-farm income on farm output, expenditure on purchased inputs and technical efficiency among farm households. The results indicate that off-farm income has a positive and significant effect on farm output and demand for purchased inputs. Though the result does not establish that off-farm income improves technical efficiency, there is a slight efficiency gains in households with off-farm income. The findings of this study challenge the notion that participation in off-farm activities may lead to a decline in own-farm agricultural production, due to competition for family labour between farm and off-farm works. Rather, they tend to suggest that there are indeed elements of complementarities and positive spill-over effects between the farm and off-farm sectors of rural the economy. Removing credit market imperfections and upgrading rural infrastructure could enhance the development of both sectors simultaneously.ASC – Publicaties niet-programma gebonde

Empirical analysis of adaptation strategies used in mitigating flood related losses by rice farmers in Kwara State, Nigeria

This study was designed to gain an insight into the adaptation strategies employed by smallholder rice farmers to mitigate flood losses as well as examine determinants of farmers’ choice of adaptation strategy in Kwara State, Nigeria. Primary data were collected using semi-structured questionnaire administered to 240 smallholder rice farmers who were selected in a three-stage sampling procedure. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multinomial logistic regression model. The study revealed majority (79.5%) of the rice farmers adopted the planting of early-maturing rice seedling variety so as to ensure early harvest before the peak of rainfall when floods are usually experienced. The least adopted strategy is the change of crop and upland cropping with only 2% of the rice farmers engaging in this. Educational status, past flood-related losses and savings positively influenced the adoption of early maturing rice varieties’ relative to change of crop and upland cropping whereas household size and access to climate information had a negative influence on adoption of change in planting date relative to change of crop and upland cropping (P < 0.05). The study recommends an urgent need to address rice farmers’ continuing dependence on flood plain farming in the study area through enlightening them on the locally adapted coping strategies such as upland cropping and planting of other crops.Keywords: Climate change, Flooding, Multinomial logistic regression, Upland croppin

Effect of Social Capital Endowment on the Welfare of Farming Households in Kwara State, Nigeria

This study examines the effect of social on welfare of farming households in Kwara state, Nigeria. It focused on household food security status and nutritional status of under-five children as measure of household welfare. A three stage random sampling was employed to collect primary data from 160 farming households in Kwara State. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics, ordinary least square regression (OLS) and probit regression analyses. The regression analysis result shows that educational level, household size, household monthly income, dependency ratio and social capital index were significant in explaining variation in household food security status and in addition, number of friends of household head and status of household members in social groups are also significant in explaining nutrition status of under-five children in the households. The study showed that household’s per capital calories intake increases with increase decision making index and heterogeneity index. Children nutrition status increase as density of membership and heterogeneity indices increase. The study concludes that social capital has a positive effect on household food security and children nutrition status thereby improving household welfare. The study therefore recommended that farmer should be encouraged to join social group so as to increase their social capital endowment. Also, social groups need to be strengthened and supported to improve household social network so as to improve household welfare

Compliance to agrochemical safety practices among arable crop farmers in Ola-Oluwa Local Government Area OF Osun State, Nigeria

The study examined the compliance to agrochemical safety practices among arable crop farmers in Ola-Oluwa local government area of Osun state. Random sampling was used to select 127 farmers from the list of 254 registered farmers provided by the Arable Crop Farmers Association, 110 were retrieved in the study area. Data was obtained using structured interview schedule and described statistically with PPMC for the hypotheses. The study revealed that most (65%) respondents were male, 43.6% in the age of 41-49 years. Majority (65.5%) of the respondents was married and had primary education (26.4%). Most of the respondents accessed information safety practices through Farmers association (146), Radio (117) and Television (109). Also, majority of the respondents indicated their low compliance to agrochemical safety practice before application (57.0%), during application (63.5%) and after application (52.6%). Major constraints to safety practices identified by respondents in the study area were poor reading attitude of farmers (129), lack of technical knowhow on safety practices (120) and farmers’ poor literacy level (120). PPMC analysis used for the hypotheses revealed that there was significant relationship between the respondents’ income generated and their compliance to agrochemical safety practices (r=21.256, p=0.019). Also, there was significant relationship between respondents’ sources of information and their compliance to safety practices (r=10.231, p=0.012). It is therefore recommended that information on agrochemical safety practices should be simplified to avoid ambiguity and easy interpretation due to their literacy level. Keywords: Agrochemical, Safety Practices, Arable Crop Farmer

Effect of water sources on the health of rural children: evidence from household survey in Kwara State, Nigeria

Majority of the disease outbreak in developing countries have been attributed to contaminated water with children being the worst hit. Therefore, this study analyzed the effect of water sources on the health status of children under the age of 5 years in Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State, Nigeria. Primary data was obtained through the use of semistructured interviews; 150 households with at least one child under five years were interviewed however; only 146 questionnaires were completed and found valid for analysis. The data was subjected to descriptive statistics, such as pie chart, bar charts. The results show that majority (58.2%) of the children were males. Also, most (83.5%) of the children were infants, i.e. within the age range of 0-2 years. Most (96%) of the households had access to improved water sources of which protected dug well is the most accessible. Many (42%) of the households reported that they experience periods of water shortage, this explains why water washed diseases (disease associated with poor hygiene in the face of water scarcity) was the most predominant diseases reported among the children with 70 reported cases. These were closely followed by the water related insect vector diseases with 64 reported cases and then water borne diseases with 48 reported cases. Water based diseases rarely occurred in the study area. This study, therefore, recommends that effort should be geared towards provision of safe water all year round for the farming households. Also, insecticide treated nets should be made available for the children in the farming households so as to prevent insect bites

Effect of food expenditure on farming households’ welfare in Osun state, Nigeria

Food and nutrition security remain Africa’s most fundamental challenge for human welfare and economic growth. In this study, recent survey data from Osun State, Nigeria, was used to examine the effect of food expenditure on farming households’ welfare in Nigeria. Logistic and OLS regression models were the analytical tools used. Food Insecurity Gap (FIG) and Squared Food Insecurity Gap (SFIG) were used to capture the severity of food insecurity among the households. The results showed that, all households sampled consume rice, beans, vegetable, fish and oil as basic food items, while only 32% of them consume potatoes. The regression results showed that the household size, per capita income, dependency ratio and age were the highly significant factors influencing food expenditure. However, the coping strategy that was mostly adopted by the farmers in the study area was to cut down on the numbers of food items consumed. Therefore, it was recommended that farm mechanization should be encouraged for optimal land use and productivity. In all, promoting agricultural policies with appropriate price incentives that focus on intensification, diversification and resource-stabilizing innovations will create more wealth for all categories of farming households and this in turn will ensure food security, especially in an era of economic deregulation

Corrosion inhibition and statistical data of low carbon steel in HCl media by admixed organic compounds

Corrosion inhibition of carbon steels with organic compounds exhibiting effective corrosion inhibition is an on-going research. The corrosion inhibition of low carbon steel in 1M HCl solution by the combined admixture of vanillin and benzonitrile (VBN), and salvia officinalis with lavendulan officinalis (SLV) was studied by weight loss method. Results obtained show that VBN and SLV performed effectively with maximum inhibition efficiency 91.03% at 1.5% VBN concentration and 97.89% at 5% SLV concentration. The inhibition efficiency of VBN increased with concentration but decreased with exposure time compared to the values obtained for SLV which showed non-dependence on concentration and exposure time after 1% SLV concentration. Correlation plots of inhibition efficiency versus inhibitor concentration show VBN to be more concentration dependent in performance. Calculated data for standard deviation shows the degree of variation from mean values for both compounds is significant at low inhibitor concentration due to time dependence action. Statistical analysis through ANOVA shows inhibitor concentration overwhelmingly influences the inhibition performance of the despite even though exposure time is statistically relevant to minimal degree

Impact of Remittances on Food Security and Nutrition of Migrant s Household: Evidence from Nigeria

Migration cum remittances has become an important livelihood strategy among households in most developing countries. This is because it provides migrant households with remittances that are uncorrelated with agricultural income. It is estimated that there are about 232 million migrants worldwide today. Remittances sent back home by these migrants is believed to have a huge impact on the socioeconomic conditions of families left behind in the country of origin. In Sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria is the highest receiver of remittances. However, despite the huge remittances flow into the country, malnutrition, poverty and food insecurity are still widespread in Nigeria. This paper examined the impact of remittances on food security and nutrition of farming households in Kwara State of Nigeria. Descriptive analysis indicates that, compared to non-receiving households, remittances receiving households are better off in terms of total income, assets, calorie supply, micronutrients supply, as well as, child nutritional status. Econometric analyses show that remittance income contributes to improved calorie supply at the household level, an aspect which has not been analyzed previously. Likewise, household income net of remittances increase calorie supply in a significant way, but the effect is twice larger than the effect of remittance income. Acknowledgement

Assessing the effect of off-farm income diversification on agricultural production in rural Nigeria

Farming as a primary source of income has failed to guarantee sufficient livelihood for most farming households in developing countries, and agricultural development policies have largely produced little improvement, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Diversification into off-farm activities has become the norm. While the poverty and inequality effects of off-farm income have been analyzed in different developing countries, much less empirical studies have been conducted on the impact of off-farm income on agricultural production and efficiency. Using survey data from rural Nigeria, this article examines the effect of off-farm income on farm output, expenditure on purchased inputs and technical efficiency among farm households. The results indicate that off-farm income has a positive and significant effect on farm output and demand for purchased inputs. Though the result does not establish that off-farm income improves technical efficiency, there is a slight efficiency gains in households with off-farm income. The findings of this study challenge the notion that participation in off-farm activities may lead to a decline in own-farm agricultural production, due to competition for family labour between farm and off-farm works. Rather, they tend to suggest that there are indeed elements of complementarities and positive spill-over effects between the farm and off-farm sectors of rural the economy. Removing credit market imperfections and upgrading rural infrastructure could enhance the development of both sectors simultaneously.</p