Patterns for cost-sharing of agricultural technology transfer in Nigeria

With recent changes in the financing and delivery of agricultural technology transfer worldwide due to inability of many governments to cope with varied needs of clients, most reforms currently being initiated by governments tend towards a pluralistic approach and financial participation of all stakeholders. One of such reforms is through cost-sharing. The authors examined stakeholders’ (extension professionals and farmers) opinions on the appropriate patterns for cost-sharing of agricultural technology transfer in Nigeria. The study was carried out in six geopolitical zones of Nigeria. Multistage random sampling technique was applied in the selection of 268 farmers and 272 extension professionals. Mean scores and t-test statistics were utilized in realizing the objectives of the study. Results show that the stakeholders’ overall opinion on the appropriate pattern for cost-sharing was for beneficiaries of service to pay specified amounts of money to extension organizations every farming season through their cooperative societies. Results further showed that farmers proved to have more ideas on the best patterns of sharing the cost of technology transfer than the extension professionals. It was concluded that for cost-sharing to be effective, all the stakeholders have to participate in decision-making and implementation processes of agricultural technology transfer in the country. Key words: cost-sharing, agricultural technology transfer, farmers, extension professionals, Nigeri

Influence of parental education levels on eating habits of pupils in Nigerian primary schools

Abstract: This study investigated the eating habits of pupils in Nigerian primary schools based on the respective education levels of their parents. Data were obtained using the Child Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ). Participants included a total of 144 pupils who were purposively selected from 6 primary schools. Based on responses, a cross-sectional analytic study design was implemented to investigate how parental education levels (PELs) influenced the eating habits of their children. Data assessment was performed using a one-way between-group analysis of variance at the .05 probability level. PELs significantly affected the eating habits of participants, respectively. Specifically, low PEL was associated with more satiety responsiveness to food (F [2, 141]=14.251, P<.001), higher responsiveness to food (F [2, 141]=36.943, P=<.001) greater food enjoyment (F [2, 141]=93.322, P<.001), greater drinking desires (F [2, 141]=23.677, P<.001), and the tendency for emotional over-eating (F [2, 141]=13.428, P<.001), while high PEL was associated with slower eating (F [2, 141]=11.665, P<.001), fussier responses to food (F [2, 141]=14.865, P<.001), and a higher tendency for emotional under-eating (F [2, 141]=5.137, P<.01). This study examined PELs in relation to the respective eating habits of their children, who were attending Nigerian primary schools. Data showed that children with parents who had high, middle, and low education levels tended to exhibit progressively worse eating habits, in descending order

Training Programmes Can Change Behaviour and Encourage the Cultivation of Over-Harvested Plant Species

Cultivation of wild-harvested plant species has been proposed as a way of reducing over-exploitation of wild populations but lack of technical knowledge is thought to be a barrier preventing people from cultivating a new species. Training programmes are therefore used to increase technical knowledge to encourage people to adopt cultivation. We assessed the impact of a training programme aiming to encourage cultivation of xaté (Chamaedorea ernesti-augusti), an over-harvested palm from Central America. Five years after the training programme ended, we surveyed untrained and trained individuals focusing on four potential predictors of behaviour: technical knowledge, attitudes (what individuals think about a behaviour), subjective norms (what individuals perceive others to think of a behaviour) and perceived behavioural control (self assessment of whether individuals can enact the behaviour successfully). Whilst accounting for socioeconomic variables, we investigate the influence of training upon these behavioural predictors and examine the factors that determine whether people adopt cultivation of a novel species. Those who had been trained had higher levels of technical knowledge about xaté cultivation and higher belief in their ability to cultivate it while training was not associated with differences in attitudes or subjective norms. Technical knowledge and perceived behavioural control (along with socio-economic variables such as forest ownership and age) were predictors of whether individuals cultivate xaté. We suggest that training programmes can have a long lasting effect on individuals and can change behaviour. However, in many situations other barriers to cultivation, such as access to seeds or appropriate markets, will need to be addressed

Indigenous Forest Management Practices Research Data

The data set relates to the study on the "Socioeconomic Factors Affecting Households’ Use of Indigenous Forest Management Practices in Managing Plant Non-Wood Forest Products: Evidence from Forest Communities in Nigeria Derived Savannah". The data was collected from 188 households in 10 forest communities that are among the 20 communities selected by the Enugu State government for pilot implementation of institutionalized community forest management policy. Besides the data file, I also attached a file describing the variables and questions that were asked . The file contains the details of the variables and can enable anyone to understand the data

Lagos Plastic Pollution Dataset _1

The data set is for the study on the determinants of waste disposal approach by households, their willingness to participate in road gutters/drainage channels cleanup programme and the number of man-days they are willing to contribute/give-up for the programme. The study was carried out in Lagos Nigeria. To ensure a representative sample of households, household selection involved sampling of households from the Enumeration Areas (EA) used by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). EA is a cluster of housing units as delineated by the National Population Commission. A two-stage sampling process was applied in the selection of households for the study. First, we randomly sampled a total of 30 EAs for the study. From each EA, twenty (20) households were randomly sampled, giving a total of 600 households for the study. The data covered information on local government area, enumeration area, the sector (whether urban or rural), and household identification. It also covered information on the respondents&apos; perception of single-use plastics and their environmental problems; information regarding respondent&apos;s willingness to participate in a program for the cleanup of wastes in road gutters/drainage channels before the onset of the rainy season and the number of man-days they were willing to volunteer in a week and also their socioeconomic attributes.THIS DATASET IS ARCHIVED AT DANS/EASY, BUT NOT ACCESSIBLE HERE. TO VIEW A LIST OF FILES AND ACCESS THE FILES IN THIS DATASET CLICK ON THE DOI-LINK ABOV

Funding of Agricultural Extension in A Democratic and Deregulated Economy: The Cost Sharing Approach

In Nigeria, the most difficult andchallengingpolicy issuefacing the agricultural extension service today is to secure a stable source offunding. This is because of a progressive decline infinancial supportfor extension as a result of the fiercer competitionfor resourcesfrom the national budget among the different sectors, with the effect that the quality of publicly provided services has suffered. This paper explores a demand-driven agricultural technology transfer strategy through the cost sharing approach as an alternative means offunding agricultural extension service delivery in Nigeria. The paper concludes that with the notorious imreliability of governmentfunding, chargingfarmers a nominal sumfor services would not only encourage them to exercise their rights as information consumers but cm also increase the voice offarmers in the mmagement oftechnology transfer, thereby ensuringprogramme effectiveness

Funding of Agricultural Extension in A Democratic and Deregulated Economy: The Cost Sharing Approach

In Nigeria, the most difficult andchallengingpolicy issuefacing the agricultural extension service today is to secure a stable source offunding. This is because of a progressive decline infinancial supportfor extension as a result of the fiercer competitionfor resourcesfrom the national budget among the different sectors, with the effect that the quality of publicly provided services has suffered. This paper explores a demand-driven agricultural technology transfer strategy through the cost sharing approach as an alternative means offunding agricultural extension service delivery in Nigeria. The paper concludes that with the notorious imreliability of governmentfunding, chargingfarmers a nominal sumfor services would not only encourage them to exercise their rights as information consumers but cm also increase the voice offarmers in the mmagement oftechnology transfer, thereby ensuringprogramme effectiveness

Cost-sharing of agricultural technology transfer in Nigeria: perceptions of farmers and extension professionals

Cost-sharing, which involves government-farmer partnership in the funding of agricultural extension service, is one of the reforms aimed at achieving sustainable funding for extension systems. This study examined the perceptions of farmers and extension professionals on this reform agenda in Nigeria. The study was carried out in six geopolitical zones of Nigeria. A multi-stage random sampling technique was applied in the selection of respondents. A sample size of 268 farmers and 272 Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) extension professionals participated in the study. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used in analysing the data generated from this research. The results show that majority of farmers (80.6%) and extension professionals (85.7%) had favourable perceptions towards cost-sharing. Furthermore, the overall difference in their perceptions was not significant (t =0.03). The study concludes that the strong favourable perception held by the respondents is a pointer towards acceptance of the reform. It therefore recommends that government, extension administrators and policymakers should design and formulate effective strategies and regulations for the introduction and use of cost-sharing as an alternative approach to financing agricultural technology transfer in Nigeria