An Evaluation of Literacy Level on Human Capital Development in Ogbomoso Area of Oyo State, Nigeria

This study examined an evaluation of literacy level on human capital development in Ogbomoso area of Oyo state, Nigeria. Structured questionnaire was used for data collection from 100 respondents chosen through stratified sampling techniques. In analyzing, regression analysis was used and the results revealed that evaluation of literacy level on human capital development can be influenced by gender, age, household size and marital status. Also, coefficients of the intercept and years of experience were -0.143 and -0.111 respectively. These revealed that variables with negative signs indicate that if efforts were not directed toward stimulation of labour productivity in the study area, labour productivity will definitely fall by 14.3% and 11.1% respectively. The coefficients of educational background, access to training workshop and seminars, workers' use of technology were 0.024, 0.866 and 0.816 respectively. This shows that an increase in the literacy level will increase human capital development. It is against this background that these recommendations were made that, educational policy that will pave ways for human capital development should be embarked upon and, Governments should invest in trainings to boost workers productivity. Moreso, informal and non -formal education should be embraced to increase the level of literacy. Keywords: Literacy, Human Capital Development, Ogbomoso Areas, Nigeria

Livelihood Diversification and Settlement Patterns among Agro-Pastoralists in Ibadan/Ibarapa Agricultural Zone, Oyo State, Nigeria

This study assessed livelihood diversification and settlement patterns among agro-pastoralists in Ibadan/Ibarapa Agricultural Zone, Oyo State, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 106 agro-pastoralists, while data were collected with the aid of pre-tested and validated interview guide. Data were subjected to descriptive (frequency, percentage, mean) and inferential (chi-square) statistics using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0. Results revealed that the mean age of respondent was 43 years, and that 60.4% of the respondents were sole owner of their cattle. The major livelihood activities were sale of cattle, crop farming and sale of milk/milk products. Findings also showed that many of the agro-pastoralists practiced either the transhumance (25.5%) or semi-transhumance (55.7%) settlement patterns. It was further revealed that the respondents benefited from equitable access to land, expansion of business trade and market integration. Some of the challenges faced by the agro-pastoralists include; cattle defecating on streams and roads (78.3%), extensive sedentarization (80.2%), farmland invasion by cattle (85.8%), and overgrazing on fallow lands (80.2%). Chi-square analysis revealed that there were significant associations between settlement patterns and livelihood diversification; selling of milk and milk product (χ2 = 12.248, p≤0.01), cultivation of crops (χ2 = 15.362, p≤0.01), petty trading (χ2 = 7.957, p≤0.05) and commercial selling of livestock (χ2 = 9.456, p≤0.05). It was concluded that the transhumance or semi-transhumance settlement patterns adopted by the agro-pastoralists had positive influence on their livelihood diversification into different activities.  It is therefore recommended that agro-pastoralists should diversify into more income generating livelihood activities

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INCOME AND POVERTY STATUS OF WOMEN IN KOKORO (CORN SNACK) PRODUCTION AND ARABLE CROPS PRODUCTION IN OGUN STATE, NIGERIA

The study analyzed the poverty status of women producing Kokoro (Corn snack) and women producing arable crops in Ogun State, Nigeria. A total of 208 respondents made up of 106 women producing Kokoro (Corn snack) and 102 women producing arable crops to serve as control group were selected. The respondents were selected based on non- probability method. Purposive sampling technique with Snowball method was used. Data were obtained by structured interview schedule. Data collected were analysed using FGT poverty index, costs and return and t-test statistics. The results indicated that 34.9kg of maize were processed into 128 dozens of Kokoro (Corn snack) per production run over an average of five (5) days, with six (6) production runs per month for nine months for the period of the research. The mean Kokoro (Corn snack) production cost was N42, 769.41/ respondent/ month with average revenue of N92, 253.60/ respondent/ month and net income of N49, 484.19/ respondent/ month. Income from Kokoro (Corn snack) production accounted for 53.4% of the total household income of N721,323.67 of an average woman engaged in Kokoro (Corn snack) production while farm income  accounted for 67.9% of the total household income of N418, 935.10 of an average woman producing arable crops. The study also revealed that households of Kokoro (Corn snack) producers had mean per capita household income of N282.32 per person per day which was significantly higher (p<0.01) than those of women producing arable crops, N191.29 per person per day. Thus Kokoro (Corn snack) production has the potentials to enhance income and reduce poverty among households of rural women. The study thus recommends promotion of value- adding activities, such as maize processing into Kokoro as a means of enhancing income and reduces poverty among the rural folks.     &nbsp

Comparative Economic Analyses of Production Efficiency of Fadama II Catfish Beneficiaries with Non- Beneficiaries, Ogun State, Nigeria

This study compared the production efficiencies of Fadama II catfish farmers with non-beneficiaries in Ogun State. Stochastic Frontier Analysis and difference of mean statistics were used to analyze the primary data collected from two hundred and seventy (270) respondents among the 10 the Fadama participating Local Government Areas. The Maximum Likelihood Estimates (MLE) for the production function revealed that fertilizer (X1), quantity of feed (X3) and pond size (X7) at  (p<0.01) determined the output of the beneficiaries and quantity of feed (X3) (p<0.05), fingerlings (X5)and pond size(X7)  at (p<0.01) also have positive and significant effect on the output of the non-beneficiaries. The production  inefficiency analysis  revealed that farm efficiency would increase with increase in benefits status and extension contact(p<0.01). The MLE for cost function revealed that  lime(X1) and fingerlings(X5)  decreased the production cost, quantity of feed(X3) (p<0.1) increased the cost among the beneficiaries. while quantity of feed(X3), labour(X4)  and pond size (X7) on the other hand increased the production cost among the non-beneficiaries.  The cost inefficiency analysis further revealed that farming experience  decreased the cost efficiency but increased the economic efficiency and the  t-test showed significant difference (p<0.01) between the technical efficiencies of both sets of respondents. The beneficiaries are more efficient in terms of their technical, allocative and economic efficiencies than their non-beneficiary counterparts. The study recommends the expansion of the project scope to all the non-benefitting communities, provision of conducive environment for the establishment of ponds in all parts of the country to encourage more citizens to get into fish farming business and by extension, alleviate poverty status and un-employment in the state and country at large. The link between the Village Extension Agents (VEAs), Fadama Facilitators and the Fadama fish farmers should be strengthened through continual training and capacity building initiatives, if the objective of sustainably increasing Fadama farmers’ income is to be achieved. Keywords: National Fadama Development Project II (NFDPII), Beneficiaries, Non-beneficiaries,  economic analysis, Production  efficiency , catfish production, Ogun state, Nigeria

Fruit Morphometric and RAPD Evaluation of Intraspecific Variability in Some Accessions of African Yam Bean (Sphenostylis stenocarpa Hochst. ex. A. Rich. Harms)

African Yam Bean (AYB) (Sphenostylis stenocarpa, Hochst. ex A. Rich, Harms) is an indigenous underutilized legume mainly grown in Sub-saharan African as a source of protein. Intraspecific variability studies were carried out on 10 accessions of AYB obtained from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Ibadan, Nigeria. Fourteen (14) fruit morphometric characters and nine (9) arbitrary RAPD primers were employed for evaluation of genetic intra-specific variability among the accessions. A total of 410 bands were generated with 261 (63.66%) polymorphic bands. There is significant correlation among some reproductive characters; days to 50% flowering, pods per peduncle, number of locules per pod, number of seeds per pod, pod length and seed set percentage. These characters represent good markers of the taxon suitable for breeding and genetic improvement purposes. Morphometric and RAPD cluster analysis using UPGMA resulted in a dendrogram each; with membership similarity ranging from 72% to 93%. Two accessions (TSs56 and TSs94) recorded higher level of similarity index of 93% based on RAPD profiling. The morphometric evidences shows inherent stability of AYB across varied eco-geographical settings, which demands further investigation and exploitation. However, the RAPD evidences show that the species have evolved and adapted to distinct geographical setting with a clear Nigeria and Ghana demarcation. This fact can be engaged to guide future studies, germplasm collection, characterization, documentation, utilization and conservation of AYB to boost knowledge and awareness on the genetic diversity and utility of the species

Comparative Analysis of Production Efficiency of Government-Assisted and Unassisted Pig Farmers in Lagos State

This study comparatively examined the efficiency of pig production among government-assisted and non-assisted farmers in Lagos State, Southwest, Nigeria. The study was based on primary data obtained in a cross-section survey of 120 pig farmers, 60 each drawn purposively from among the government-assisted (GAPF) and unassisted pig farmers (UAPF) in the state. The data were analysed by descriptive, budgetary and econometric (Stochastic Production Frontier) methods. The study revealed that, most of the pig farmers (67.7% of GAPF and 95.0% of UAPF) are men. Majority of the pig farmers (65.0% of GAPF and 55.0% of UAPF) are within 30 - 50 years age bracket; with as much as 83.3% of GAPF and 60.0% of UAPF, having no more than six years of experience in pig farming. However, most (95.0% of GAPF and 75.0% of UAPF) of the pig farmers had some tertiary education. Budgetary analysis revealed that an average GAPF incurred a total cost of N987,682 in producing N1,360,050 worth of pigs with a net farm income of N372,368 yielding 33.67% rate of returns on their investment during the 2008/2009 production season. His UAPF counterpart incurred a total cost of N727,860 in producing N938,000 worth of pigs with a net farm income of N210,140 yielding 31.73% rate of returns on during the same production season. The technical, allocative and overall economic efficiency estimates computed based on estimated Stochastic Production and Conditional Revenue Frontier models of the two categories of pig farmers revealed that GAPF are generally more efficient (with mean technical, allocative and overall economic efficiency index of 0.66, 0.68 and 0.48, respectively) than their UAPF counterparts (with mean technical, allocative and overall economic efficiency index of 0.53, 0.60 and 0.35, respectively). The differences in the production efficiency of the two categories of farms were found to be as a result of the institutional and infrastructural support received by GAPF which is not available to the UAPF. &nbsp

USPOREDBA PROCJENE EKONOMSKE KORISTI ZEMLJANIH BAZENA RIBNJAKA I BETONSKIH SPREMNIKA U AKVAKULTURNOM PODUZETNIŠTVU DRŽAVE OYO U NIGERIJI

The study focused on the comparative evaluation of economic benefits of earthen fish ponds and concrete tanks in aquaculture enterprises in Ibadan, Oyo state. Primary data were collected with the aid of structured interview schedule, administered through personal interviews and observations to elicit information from 100 fish farmers using purposive and convenience sampling procedure. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive, budgetary and inferential statistics. The study revealed that the mean age, male, married, household size, educated and fish farming experience were 41 years, 83.0%, 87.0%, 5 persons, 96.0% and 8 years, respectively. Earthen fish ponds users earned mean revenue of N3,322,189.85 with gross margin of N2,188,397.89 while concrete tank users earned N2,412,271.08 with gross margin of N1,413,299.46. The results showed profitability indices (0.61 and 0.47), Variable Cost ratio (0.35 and 0.30), Benefit Cost Ratio (2.55 and 1.89), Gross ratio (0.40 and 0.54) and Expenses structure ratio (0.13 and 0.23) for both the earthen ponds and concrete fish tanks, respectively. There were significant differences (t = 42.53, p≤0.05) between the profit level of earthen fish ponds and concrete tanks. Major constraints affecting economic status of the respondents were high cost of quality feed, insufficient funds, poaching and poor marketing channel. In conclusion, aquaculture is a more profitable and viable business regardless of the culture system. Government should assist the fish farmers by subsidizing feeds cost, granting and monitoring of loan.Temelj ovog istraživanja bila je usporedba procjene ekonomske koristi zemljanih bazena ribnjaka i betonskih spremnika u akvakulturnim poduzećima grada Ibadana u državi Oyo. U izboru 100 uzgajivača ribe korištena je kombinacija svrsishodnog i praktičnog uzorkovanja, a uzgajivači su bili podvrgnuti strukturiranom intervjuu radi prikupljanja primarnih podataka u svrhu deskriptivne statistike, proračunske tehnike i inferencijalne statistike. Istraživanje je rezultiralo sljedećim podacima: prosječna životna dob bila je 41 godina, muškaraca je bilo 83,0%, oženjenih 87,0%, u većini slučajeva bilo je 5 članova kućanstva, obrazovanih je bilo 96,0%, a iskustvo uzgoja riba kod ispitanika bilo je 8 godina. Korisnici zemljanih bazena ribnjaka imali su srednji prihod od N3,322,189.85 s bruto maržom od N2,188,397.89, dok su korisnici betonskih spremnika zaradili N2,412,271.08 s bruto maržom od N1,413,299.46. Indeks profitabilnosti bio je 0,61 i 0,47, varijabilni omjer troškova 0,35 i 0,30, omjer troškova i koristi 2,55 i 1,89, bruto omjer 0,40 i 0,54, a omjer strukture troškova bio je 0,13 i 0,23. Značajna je razlika između razine profita od zemljanih ribnjaka i betonskih spremnika (t = 42,53, p ≤ 0,05). Glavne prepreke koje utječu na ekonomski status ispitanika bili su visoki troškovi kvalitetne prehrane, neadekvatnost fondova, krivolov i loš marketing. Zaključno, akvakultura je isplativo i održivo područje poduzetništva, bez obzira na kulturni sustav. Vlada bi trebala pomoći uzgajivačima ribe subvencioniranjem troškova prehrane, odobravanjem i praćenjem kredita

Feasibility of Private Integrated Agricultural Extension Services in Ogun State, Nigeria

Agricultural extension service in Nigeria has remained a responsibility of government in the past four decades. However, the persistent poor funding of the extension service has reduced the effectiveness of extension services to farmers. This informedfarmers desireforprivate organizations and religious bodies to assist inproviding services to them, even though this impliesfinancial contributionfrom thefarmers. However, the ability and willingness offarmers to befinancially responsiblefor extension services provided is in doubt. This provided the basisfor the study, which aimed at determining thefeasibility ofprivate integrated agricultural extensfoq services in Ogun State, Nigeria. Data were obtainedfrom 240 small-scale farmers, 61 extension workers/specialists, 10 subject matter specialists and 6 agro-allied industries through the use ofstructured interview schedule and questionnaire. Results ofthe study showed that majority (75.8%) of the farmers were willing to pay for andpatronize private integrated agricultural extension services (PIAES). Farmers (80%) in Ogun State have access to Ogun State Agricultural Development Programme extension service, but still do not have the desired impactfrom the service. Extension specialists/workers and subject matter specialists (93.4%) are willing to establish PIAES in Ogun State. Farmers' access to OGADEP extension service has no significant relationship with their willingness to pay for and patronize PIAES (r=.003, a>.05). Farmers’ access to input service has significant relationship with their willingness to pay for andpatronize PIAES (r=.421, a<.05). Private integrated agricultural extension service is feasible in Ogun State, Nigeria. It is therefore recommended that provision ofinput services should be added to the present extension service provided by OGADEP and experienced extension specialists, workers and subject matter specialists shouldbe encouragedby government and farmers' groups to establish PIAES

Feasibility of Private Integrated Agricultural Extension Services in Ogun State, Nigeria

Agricultural extension service in Nigeria has remained a responsibility of government in the past four decades. However, the persistent poor funding of the extension service has reduced the effectiveness of extension services to farmers. This informedfarmers desireforprivate organizations and religious bodies to assist inproviding services to them, even though this impliesfinancial contributionfrom thefarmers. However, the ability and willingness offarmers to befinancially responsiblefor extension services provided is in doubt. This provided the basisfor the study, which aimed at determining thefeasibility ofprivate integrated agricultural extensfoq services in Ogun State, Nigeria. Data were obtainedfrom 240 small-scale farmers, 61 extension workers/specialists, 10 subject matter specialists and 6 agro-allied industries through the use ofstructured interview schedule and questionnaire. Results ofthe study showed that majority (75.8%) of the farmers were willing to pay for andpatronize private integrated agricultural extension services (PIAES). Farmers (80%) in Ogun State have access to Ogun State Agricultural Development Programme extension service, but still do not have the desired impactfrom the service. Extension specialists/workers and subject matter specialists (93.4%) are willing to establish PIAES in Ogun State. Farmers' access to OGADEP extension service has no significant relationship with their willingness to pay for and patronize PIAES (r=.003, a>.05). Farmers’ access to input service has significant relationship with their willingness to pay for andpatronize PIAES (r=.421, a<.05). Private integrated agricultural extension service is feasible in Ogun State, Nigeria. It is therefore recommended that provision ofinput services should be added to the present extension service provided by OGADEP and experienced extension specialists, workers and subject matter specialists shouldbe encouragedby government and farmers' groups to establish PIAES

Spectrum of heart diseases in a new cardiac service in Nigeria: An echocardiographic study of 1441 subjects in Abeokuta

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Echocardiography is a non-invasive, relatively cheap and useful imaging technique for the evaluation of cardiac diseases. The procedure has reliable levels of accuracy.</p> <p>Echocardiography commenced at the Federal medical centre Abeokuta on September 9, 2005.</p> <p>The aim of this study is to report our experience with the procedure, and to define the clinical cases seen in our setting.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This is a retrospective analysis of a prospectively collected data. Echocardiography was performed using Aloka SSD 1,100 echocardiograph equipped with 2.5–5.0 MHz transducer</p> <p>Results</p> <p>During the period of 18 months under review (September 2005–February 2007), 1629 procedures were performed. The reports of 188 echocardiograms were excluded due to poor echo-window, repeated procedure or incomplete report. 1441 reports were reviewed for demographic parameter, indications for the procedure and the main echocardiographic diagnoses.</p> <p>The mean age of the 1441 individuals studied was 54 +/- 14.3 years (15–90). There were 744 men and 697 women. Eight hundred and seventeen subjects (56.7%) had hypertensive heart disease, 53 subjects (3.7%) had rheumatic heart disease while 44(3.0%) had dilated cardiomyopathy. Pericardial diseases, cor-pulmonale, ischaemic heart disease, congenital heart diseases, diabetic heart disease, thyroid heart disease, sickle cell cardiopathy were present in 26(1.8%), 23(1.6%), 9(0.6%), 6(0.4%), 6(0.4%), 6(0.4%), 1(0.1%), and 1(0.1%) respectively. Four hundred and forty nine (31.2%) subjects had normal study.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Hypertensive heart disease was found to be the most prevalent cardiac condition in this study. The relatively frequent diagnoses of rheumatic heart disease, cardiomyopathies and pericardial diseases reflect the impact of infections and infestations on the cardiovascular health of adult Nigerians.</p> <p>We suggest that prevention and treatment of cardiac diseases in our setting should among other things focus on blood pressure control and early treatment of infections causing heart diseases.</p