Challenges of Small Ruminants Production in Selected Urban Communities of Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria

Livestock production has become a common trend in urban communities whereby a number of people reared farm animals such as sheep and goats for social and economic reasons. Notwithstanding the associated advantages of livestock production, effective urban production of the small ruminants is greatly challenged by a number of factors. Based on this, the study was conducted with a view to identifying factors that challenged effective sheep and goat production in selected urban communities of Abeokuta, Ogun State. From the selected 12 urban communities where sheep and goats were reared, a total of 217 rearers were non-randomly selected using snow balling sampling method. A reliable and validated interview guide was used alongside field observation to obtain information on challenges to sheep and goats production in the urban areas. The results showed that the challenges were feed, health/disease, environmental, marketing and routine management related. All the respondents (100%) experienced challenges such as high cost of feeding, theft of the farm animals, problem of off -season feeding and problem of sourcing feed variety for the animals. The chi-square test showed that a significant relationship exists between the respondents’ socioeconomic characteristics (sex: χ2 = 21.06, df =4; age: χ2 = 43.26, df = 16; education: χ2 = 78.09, df = 12; occupation: χ2 = 62.57, df = 16; income: χ2 = 56.35, df =16) and the encountered challenges (p < 0.05). Based on this, it was concluded that the identified challenges to urban sheep and goat production remained serious issues in the study area. It was thus recommended that conscious efforts should be put up by rearers of the small ruminants to ensure safety of their animals and good feeding routine for increased productivity and beneficial returns

3D Agro-ecological Land Use Planning Using Surfer Tool for Sustainable Land Management in Sumani Watershed, West Sumatra Indonesia

Estimation of soil erosion 3D (E3D) provides basic information that can help manage agricultural areas sustainably, which has not been sufficiently conducted in Indonesia. Sumani watershed is main rice production area in West Sumatra which has experienced environmental problem such as soil erosion and production problem in recent years. 3D Agro-ecological land use planning based on soil erosion 3D hazard and economic feasibility analyses consist of production cost and prize data for each crop. Using a kriging method in Surfer tool program, have been developed data base from topographic map, Landsat TM image, climatic data and soil psychochemical properties. Using these data, the Universal Soil Loss Equation was used for spatial map of soil erosion 3D and proposed a 3D agro-ecological land use planning for sustainable land management in Sumani watershed. A 3D Agro-ecological land use planning was planned under which the land use type would not cause more than tolerable soil erosion (TER) and would be economically feasible. The study revealed that the annual average soil erosion from Sumani watershed was approximately 76.70 Mg ha-1yr-1 in 2011 where more than 100 Mg ha-1yr-1 was found on the cultivated sloping lands at agricultural field, which constitutes large portion of soil erosion in the watershed. Modification of land use with high CP values to one with lower CP values such as erosion control practices by reforestation, combination of mixed garden+beef+chicken (MBC), terrace (TBC) or contour cropping+beef+chicken (CBC) and sawah+buffalo+chicken (SBC) could reduce soil erosion rate by 83.2%, from 76.70 to 12.9 Mg ha-1 yr-1, with an increase in total profit from agricultural production of about 9.2% in whole Sumani watershed

3D Agro-ecological Land Use Planning Using Surfer Tool for Sustainable Land Management in Sumani Watershed, West Sumatra Indonesia

Estimation of soil erosion 3D (E3D) provides basic information that can help manage agricultural areas sustainably, which has not been sufficiently conducted in Indonesia. Sumani watershed is main rice production area in West Sumatra which has experienced environmental problem such as soil erosion and production problem in recent years. 3D Agro-ecological land use planning based on soil erosion 3D hazard and economic feasibility analyses consist of production cost and prize data for each crop. Using a kriging method in Surfer tool program, have been developed data base from topographic map, Landsat TM image, climatic data and soil psychochemical properties. Using these data, the Universal Soil Loss Equation was used for spatial map of soil erosion 3D and proposed a 3D agro-ecological land use planning for sustainable land management in Sumani watershed. A 3D Agro-ecological land use planning was planned under which the land use type would not cause more than tolerable soil erosion (TER) and would be economically feasible. The study revealed that the annual average soil erosion from Sumani watershed was approximately 76.70 Mg ha-1yr-1 in 2011 where more than 100 Mg ha-1yr-1 was found on the cultivated sloping lands at agricultural field, which constitutes large portion of soil erosion in the watershed. Modification of land use with high CP values to one with lower CP values such as erosion control practices by reforestation, combination of mixed garden+beef+chicken (MBC), terrace (TBC) or contour cropping+beef+chicken (CBC) and sawah+buffalo+chicken (SBC) could reduce soil erosion rate by 83.2%, from 76.70 to 12.9 Mg ha-1 yr-1, with an increase in total profit from agricultural production of about 9.2% in whole Sumani watershed.Key words: CP-values, Erosion 3D, land use, Surfer Tool, USLE [How to Cite: Aflizar, AC Idowu, R Afrizal, Jamaluddin, E Syafri, Muzakir, Husnain and T Masunaga. 2013. 3D Agro-ecological Land Use Planning Using Surfer Tool for Sustainable Land Management in Sumani Watershed, West Sumatra Indonesia. J Trop Soils 18 (3): 241-254. Doi: 10.5400/jts.2013.18.3.241][Permalink/DOI: www.dx.doi.org/10.5400/jts.2013.18.3.241]REEFERENCESAflizar, A Roni and T Masunaga. 2013. 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Workplace Conflict and Employees’ Job Performance in Agro-Services Corporation, Ogun State, Nigeria

The study determined the effects of workplace conflict on employees’ job performance in Ogun State Agro-service Corporation (OGASC). Multistage sampling technique was used to select 77 respondents. Data were collected through the administration of questionnaires and were analysed using frequency, percentage, mean and t-test. More than half percentage of the respondents (57.1%) experienced low level of workplace conflict. Though, existence of favouratism (áº=1.311) was ranked second as an indication of conflict by the respondents. Furthermore, a fairly high percentage of the respondents (51.9%) had unfavourable perception of the management’s resolution strategies. In addition, the job performance of 68.8% of the respondents was high. Job performance of the respondents was not adversely affected by the workplace conflict they experienced. Therefore, the management of OGASC should ensure improvement in the deployment of the used resolution strategies to drastically reduce conflict for better performance of the employees

Workplace Conflict and Employees’ Job Performance in Agro-Services Corporation, Ogun State, Nigeria

The study determined the effects of workplace conflict on employees’ job performance in Ogun State Agro-service Corporation (OGASC). Multistage sampling technique was used to select 77 respondents. Data were collected through the administration of questionnaires and were analysed using frequency, percentage, mean and t-test. More than half percentage of the respondents (57.1%) experienced low level of workplace conflict. Though, existence of favouratism (áº=1.311) was ranked second as an indication of conflict by the respondents. Furthermore, a fairly high percentage of the respondents (51.9%) had unfavourable perception of the management’s resolution strategies. In addition, the job performance of 68.8% of the respondents was high. Job performance of the respondents was not adversely affected by the workplace conflict they experienced. Therefore, the management of OGASC should ensure improvement in the deployment of the used resolution strategies to drastically reduce conflict for better performance of the employees

Workplace Conflict and Employees’ Job Performance in Agro-Services Corporation, Ogun State, Nigeria

The study determined the effects of workplace conflict on employees’ job performance in Ogun State Agro-service Corporation (OGASC). Multistage sampling technique was used to select 77 respondents. Data were collected through the administration of questionnaires and were analysed using frequency, percentage, mean and t-test. More than half percentage of the respondents (57.1%) experienced low level of workplace conflict. Though, existence of favouratism (áº=1.311) was ranked second as an indication of conflict by the respondents. Furthermore, a fairly high percentage of the respondents (51.9%) had unfavourable perception of the management’s resolution strategies. In addition, the job performance of 68.8% of the respondents was high. Job performance of the respondents was not adversely affected by the workplace conflict they experienced. Therefore, the management of OGASC should ensure improvement in the deployment of the used resolution strategies to drastically reduce conflict for better performance of the employees

Effect of soil erosion and topography on distribution of cadmium (Cd) in Sumani watershed, west Sumatra, Indonesia

The purpose of this study was to characterize and present the distribution of heavy metals especially Cd on agricultural and non-agricultural lands and river sediments in relation to soil erosion and topography status in watersheds. The study was conducted for a detailed soil survey by collecting 146 soil sample based on land use, soil family and topography position and 23 river sediments sample. The Cd was extracted by 0.1 M HCl and determined by ICP. The result showed that the concentration of Cd in soil and river sediment were low in toxicity based on FAO recommendation (Cd 0.4 mg/kg) with only 4 out of 169 sampling sites contained Cd exceeding the toxicity level. Volcanic ash from Mount Talang Volcano is a natural source of Cd in Sumani watershed. Cd concentration was low in areas with high soil erosion, which indicate material translocation caused by high soil erosion that accumulates sediment in plains and rivers. Agricultural soil was found to be low in soil pH and clay accompanied by high R factor and upland topography hence the increase in Cd concentration of the soil. The study concluded that Cd abundance in soils may be influenced by soil pH, texture, total carbon, erosion factors, and topography