ASSESSMENT OF THE KNOWLEDGE AND USE OF BRIQUETTES FOR CLIMATE CHANGE OPTION AMONG RICE PROCESSORS IN ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA

The study on the assessment of the knowledge and use of briquettes for climate change option among rice processors in Anambra State, Nigeria investigated the level of rice processor’s knowledge and perception on the use of briquettes, perceived advantages of renewable energy, as well as the socio-economic characteristic influence on the processor’s perception and the perceived challenges to the production of briquettes. Data were collected from 974 randomly selected rice processors and analyzed with descriptive statistics and Tobit regression model. The study shows that the majority (62.2%) of the processors are female with mean age, processing experience and a monthly output of 43 years, 15 years and 4.5 tons respectively. Also, the processors were fairly knowledgeable on the use of briquettes but perceived renewable energy as economically viable, and climate-smart among others. The socioeconomic variables influencing their perception were Age, marital-status, enterprise size, experience, monthly income, and rice residues. Finally, the likely challenges that will constrain briquettes production include; high initial cost, high maintenance cost etc. furthermore, policymakers must swing into action to sensitize processors on the need to adopt renewable energy for environmental sustainability

MEDIATING ROLE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT ON THE ECONOMIC GROWTH OF WOMEN IN NIGERIA

The outbreak of Covid-19 saw the loss of jobs which necessitates the need to embrace entrepreneurship, especially among women who are more economically marginalized in the labour market in Sub-Sahara Africa. The disease outbreak warrants the need to consume healthy food which many women especially those heading their households could not afford due to inactive economic engagement. This present study found the need to beam a searchlight on mediating role of entrepreneurship development on the economic growth of women in Nigeria. Data for the study came from a cross-section of Five hundred (500) women entrepreneurs, randomly selected to represent 71% of the total sample size. Structural equation modelling (SEM) technique was used to operationalize the study objectives and suppositions. Constructively, it was found that psychological indicators (PSYI) and knowledge of business practice indicator (KBPI) catalyzed entrepreneurship development in the area by 17.8% and 38.1% respectively. This strong affinity or association between the PSYI and KBPI indirectly resulted in over 100% growth in the economic status of women in the area. Hypothetically, PYSI and KBPI were mediated to economic growth through entrepreneurship development by 5% and 1% levels of probability which caused the rejection of the null hypotheses two and three. The study explicitly suggests that separating household and business income, and maintaining a separate business account, among others are the knowledge of business practice indicators; openness to change, and desire for self-independent among others are the psychological indicators, while the increase in the size of the inventory among others is the business performance indicator that stimulates entrepreneurship development; These led to higher formalization, and increases in capital investment as entrepreneurship development indices that stimulates economic growth. Thus, women entrepreneurs should be properly trained on the guiding principles of entrepreneurship development and practices. The study, therefore, recommends that government and non-governmental agencies should concentrate effort on training women to come near competence in their economic activities

Economics of good agronomic practices adoption by rice farmers in value chain development programme, Anambra State, Nigeria

The study was on the economics of good agronomic practices adopted by rice farmers in the value chain development programme, Anambra State, Nigeria. The specific objectives focused primarily on the extent of good agronomic practice (GAP) adoption, cost and returns from GAP rice production, resource use efficiency and challenges of GAP adoption in the study area. Data were collected through a well-structured questionnaire from a cross-section of 337 (representing 91% of the approved sample size) rice farmers randomly selected by multi-stage sampling procedures. A combination of analytical techniques was used to operationalize the models. The study established that farmers did not adopt any technology disseminated at a pre-planting stage of rice farming, but adopted timely planting, bund making for water management and weed and/ or pest control in the planting stage of the technologies, while winnowing and proper storage of paddy had been successfully adopted at the post-planting stage. Evidently, about 50% of the technologies disseminated in the study area are under trial or consideration stage. From the profitability analysis, the study revealed a 59% return on investment for every 1 USD invested. However, the project implementers need to reduce the cost of fertilizer and labour, these could be achieved through increasing beneficiaries’ budget on fertilizer by 12.4% and over 100% for labour through mechanization to justify the estimation of resource allocation efficiency which reported inefficiency for all the plating inputs. The study equally identified some factors militating against the adoption of GAP which were rotated into four components named institutional, socioeconomic, and economic and management factors. These four factors: institutional (24.5%), socioeconomic (10.9%), economic (10.5%) and management (9.5%) accounted for 55.4% of the challenges to GAP adoption. The study, therefore, concludes that GAP has not been fully adopted by farmers, this is because one-time use of technology does not guarantee its adoption. However, efforts should be prioritized by the appropriate authorities to tackle the identified challenges since the gain in rice production is worthwhile

ASSESSMENT OF THE KNOWLEDGE AND USE OF BRIQUETTES FOR CLIMATE CHANGE OPTION AMONG RICE PROCESSORS IN ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA

The study on the assessment of the knowledge and use of briquettes for climate change option among rice processors in Anambra State, Nigeria investigated the level of rice processor’s knowledge and perception on the use of briquettes, perceived advantages of renewable energy, as well as the socio-economic characteristic influence on the processor’s perception and the perceived challenges to the production of briquettes. Data were collected from 974 randomly selected rice processors and analyzed with descriptive statistics and Tobit regression model. The study shows that the majority (62.2%) of the processors are female with mean age, processing experience and a monthly output of 43 years, 15 years and 4.5 tons respectively. Also, the processors were fairly knowledgeable on the use of briquettes but perceived renewable energy as economically viable, and climate-smart among others. The socioeconomic variables influencing their perception were Age, marital-status, enterprise size, experience, monthly income, and rice residues. Finally, the likely challenges that will constrain briquettes production include; high initial cost, high maintenance cost etc. furthermore, policymakers must swing into action to sensitize processors on the need to adopt renewable energy for environmental sustainability

Technical Efficiency and Technological Gaps of Rice Production in Anambra State, Nigeria

The traditional approach to modeling productive efficiency assumes that technology is constant across the sample. However, farms in different regions may face different production opportunities, and the technologies they employ may differ due to environmental factors. Therefore, rather than using a traditional stochastic frontier model in such cases, a stochastic meta-frontier (SMF) analysis is recommended to account for environmental factors between regions. It follows that differences in environmental factors between the upland and lowland regions in Anambra State, Nigeria, may result in farmers producing rice under different production and environmental conditions. Using the SMF model, this study, for the first time, determines technical efficiency (TE) and technological gap ratios (TGRs) of rice production from the upland and lowland regions in the Awka North Local Government Area of Anambra State, Nigeria. Our data are from a cross-section sample of randomly selected rice farmers. Results reveal that lowland regional rice producers are on average, significantly more technically efficient (91.7%) than their upland counterparts (84.2%). Additionally, mean TGRs associated with lowland rice farmers are higher (92.1%) than their corresponding upland producers (84.7%). While the upland rice producers are less technically efficient and further away from their full potential, results indicate that both sets of farmers do not use advanced technologies to match the industry’s potential. We suggest that agricultural policy should focus on providing regionally specific technologies, such as improved rice varieties that fit the working environment of the lagging area, to help rice farmers improve their resource efficiency and minimize technological gaps

Sustainable Fruit Growing: An Analysis of Differences in Apple Productivity in the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir

Apple is considered as an important fruit crop in temperate regions of the world including India. It is one of the major fruit crops, with a considerable area under cultivation throughout the world and a large associated population. Despite this, the productivity of this important fruit is not up to the expected standard. To gain a practical understanding of the low productivity of apple fruit and its probable causes, a study was undertaken to analyze productivity differentials and their determinants to enable sustainable cultivation. A multistage sampling procedure was adopted to select districts, horticultural zones, and villages, and data were collected from randomly selected apple growers (300). The collected data were empirically analyzed with simple descriptive statistics, logistic regression, polynomial plots, and inferential statistics such as t-tests. The results indicated that apple yields followed a sigmoidal pattern, with the average yield per hectare for the current season as 9.43 t/ha, which depends on experience, education, annual income, and the adoption rate of apple growers. This yield average was significantly lower than the yield of the previous season at a probability level of 1%. To determine the root cause of low productivity, different constraints were studied, creating yield disparities in different quarters; hence, their percentage and value contributions (socioeconomic 11.1%, credit 4.2%, pests and diseases 0.05%, technology 0.9%, extension 2.0%, and market 3.5%) were also established in the study. The study will be of great interest to the relevant authorities in the study area, and the areas globally having similar congenial agro-climatic conditions, who are seeking to address the issues raised in this study through sustainable policy decisions. The different constraints that were the fundamental reasons for low productivity and that prevented the apple growers from adopting innovative techniques/improved practices to increase their yields need to be addressed as a matter of urgency