Digital Platforms for Linking Agriculture Investors with Smallholder Farmers in Nigeria

The study assessed digital platforms used to link agriculture investors with smallholder farmers in Nigeria. Content analysis and In-depth interviews were used for the study. Three digital platforms, namely ThriveAgric, EZ Farming and Farmcrowdy were purposively chosen for this study. Results showed that ThriveAgric is user friendly, EZ Farming and Farmcrowdy provide risk assessment scores for easy monitoring. Also, ThriveAgric uses Agricultural Operating System (AOS) to track farmers’ activities. EZ Farming uses social media platforms for adverts and campaign while Farmcrowdy innovatively used the platform to render advisory services to the farmers. ThriveAgric and Farmcrowdy invested in crop and livestock production while EZ Farming areas of investments were crop, livestock, fisheries, farm equipment and hydroponics. Smallholder farmers’ derived benefits were mainly observed in the aspect of reduction in post-harvest losses. Untimely delivery of agricultural inputs and cost of running the platforms were identified as major impediments to effective deployment of the platform by the farmers and operators of the platforms respectively. Cost sharing mechanism should be incorporated in the partnership to ensure sustainability and win-win situation. Also regular review of the initiative by all the stakeholders is strongly recommended

Digital Platforms for Linking Agriculture Investors with Smallholder Farmers in Nigeria

The study assessed digital platforms used to link agriculture investors with smallholder farmers in Nigeria. Content analysis and In-depth interviews were used for the study. Three digital platforms, namely ThriveAgric, EZ Farming and Farmcrowdy were purposively chosen for this study. Results showed that ThriveAgric is user friendly, EZ Farming and Farmcrowdy provide risk assessment scores for easy monitoring. Also, ThriveAgric uses Agricultural Operating System (AOS) to track farmers’ activities. EZ Farming uses social media platforms for adverts and campaign while Farmcrowdy innovatively used the platform to render advisory services to the farmers. ThriveAgric and Farmcrowdy invested in crop and livestock production while EZ Farming areas of investments were crop, livestock, fisheries, farm equipment and hydroponics. Smallholder farmers’ derived benefits were mainly observed in the aspect of reduction in post-harvest losses. Untimely delivery of agricultural inputs and cost of running the platforms were identified as major impediments to effective deployment of the platform by the farmers and operators of the platforms respectively. Cost sharing mechanism should be incorporated in the partnership to ensure sustainability and win-win situation. Also regular review of the initiative by all the stakeholders is strongly recommended

C9 Digital Platforms for Linking Agriculture Investors with Smallholder Farmers in Nigeria

The study assessed digital platforms used to link agriculture investors with smallholder farmers in Nigeria. Content analysis and In-depth interviews were used for the study. Three digital platforms, namely ThriveAgric, EZ Farming and Farmcrowdy were purposively chosen for this study. Results showed that ThriveAgric is user friendly, EZ Farming and Farmcrowdy provide risk assessment scores for easy monitoring. Also, ThriveAgric uses Agricultural Operating System (AOS) to track farmers’ activities. EZ Farming uses social media platforms for adverts and campaign while Farmcrowdy innovatively used the platform to render advisory services to the farmers. ThriveAgric and Farmcrowdy invested in crop and livestock production while EZ Farming areas of investments were crop, livestock, fisheries, farm equipment and hydroponics. Smallholder farmers’ derived benefits were mainly observed in the aspect of reduction in post-harvest losses. Untimely delivery of agricultural inputs and cost of running the platforms were identified as major impediments to effective deployment of the platform by the farmers and operators of the platforms respectively. Cost sharing mechanism should be incorporated in the partnership to ensure sustainability and win-win situation. Also regular review of the initiative by all the stakeholders is strongly recommended

A Multi-objectives regression, optimization and risk assessment of profitability indicators of the simulation of mini Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) dispensing unit

In this study, simulation of a mini Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) dispensing unit was conducted using ASPEN HYSYS and the operation of both compressor and pump were validated theoretically. The effect of the economic parameters (Total Annual Sales (TAS), Total Production Cost (TPC), Fixed Capital Investment (FCI) and interest rate (r)) on the behaviour of three profitability indicators (Net Present Value (NPV), Return on investment (ROI) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR)) were modelled and optimized using Box Behnken Design (BBD). The uncertainty of the developed models was determined using Oracle Crystal Ball (ORB). The optimum economic parameters, TAS of ₦48,830,600, FCI of ₦37,422,000, TPC of ₦35, 053,000 and r of 5.4% predicted optimum profitability indicators are ROI of 34.6%, NPV of ₦98,993,580.25 and IRR of 34.15% for 15 years’ investment plan. An interaction of the economic parameters showed that for NPV to be positive, TAS value should be greater than ₦42.5 million and the TPC should be less or equal to ₦36 million. The profitability analysis suggested that this investment will pay back in 2.36 years. Given that the demand of LPG is on the increase and therefore, this LPG plant will be a long term investment with a good return on investment

Self-medication among health workers in a tertiary institution in South-West Nigeria

Introduction: inappropriate self-medication results in wastage of resources, resistance to pathogen and generally entails serious health hazard. This study was undertaken to determine the knowledge, practice and reasons for practice of self-medication among health workers in a Nigerian tertiary institution. Methods: this was a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted among staff of Federal Medical Center Ido-Ekiti, Nigeria. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 305 respondents that were interviewed via a pretested semi-structured questionnaire. Analysis was done using SPSS version 15 and while chi-square test was used to test significance between variables, significant (p value set<0.05). Results: among the 305 respondents interviewed, the age range was 18-52yrs with greater proportion being males (51.8%). Majority of respondents were aware of self-medication (94.8%), but only 47.2% had good knowledge of it. Reasons for practicing self-medication were financial problem (10.8%), mild sickness (10.8%), lack of time (13.4%), knowledge of diagnosis (5.6%), convenience (2.3%) and non-availability of doctors (3.0%). The drugs used by respondents without prescription included analgesics (38.2%), antibiotics (19.0%) anti-malaria drugs (13.3%), and others (29.4%). Conditions for which respondents self-medicated were body pains (14.9%), catarrh (14.9%), headache (14.3%), sore throat (11.5%), diarrhea (11.2%), fever (9.0%) and toothache (5.6%). Conclusion: the study demonstrates that the prevalence of self-medication is relatively high. There is need for health education on the implication and danger of self-medication. There is also need for government to pass and enforce law to restrict free access to drugs.The Pan African Medical Journal 2016;2