Analysis of Rhizophora Racemosa L Plant Business among Rural Dwellers in Southern Nigeria

The study was designed to identify the constraints to Rhizophora Racemosa business among rural dwellers in Southern Nigeria. Sub objectives were to; identify the socio-economic characteristics of traders; ascertain influence of socio economic characteristics and growth of the business and determine the constraints to the business. Structured copies of questionnaire and interview schedule were utilized to elicit information from a sample of sixty (60) respondents. Collected primary data were analyzed using descriptive statistics regression and factor analysis. Results  revealed that elder people above the reproductive age (40%), illiterates (63.6%) and  females (78.2%) dominated the business. There was a direct significant relationship between growth of Rhizophora racemosa and age (t=2.14), education (t=2.07), income (t=2.01) and years of experience (t=2.02).  The processing efficiency of the production of 5 baskets was 1.79 which indicated a profitable business. Identified constraints include, lack of funds and absence of government support also affected the profitability of the business. It was concluded that government  support  in form of loans would increase the level of production. Keywords: Constraints, Rhizophora racemosa, business, rural dweller

Analysis of the Effect of Fuel Subsidy Removal on Selected Food Prices in Port Harcourt, Rivers State Nigeria (2001-2012)

This research was conducted to analyse the effect of fuel subsidy removal on selected food prices in Port Harcourt (2001-2012) the food items considered were rice, yam, garri, beef and fish. The study objectives were to examine the impact of subsidy removal on prices of rice, garri, yam, beef and fish, examine the price of different food items before and after subsidy and to examine if subsidy removal causes inflation.  Secondary data were used. Five simple regression equations were built with fuel subsidy as independent variables (X1) while rice (Y1), yam (Y2) beef (Y4), garri (Y3) and fish (Y5) were the dependent variable.  The study showed that from 1966 to 2012, Nigeria had removed subsidy 24 times in 58 years, and that the prices of most food items increased astronomically from 2001 to 2012 especially beef and fish due to fuel subsidy.  The coefficient of determination (R2) showed that there was a significant relationship between food prices and fuel subsidy.  The study concluded that removal of fuel subsidy has affected food prices. It was recommended that the policy of removal of subsidy   be implemented gradually to avoid further increase in price of food items

Expenditure Pattern for Beef Consumption in Selected Households in Southern Nigeria

Against the backdrop of increasing protein deficiency arising from low per capita consumption of animal protein which may pose threat to market demand for beef in Nigeria, this study was designed to analyze the expenditure patterns and determinant of beef consumption in selected households in Southern Nigeria. Specifically, the study was designed to estimate the monthly expenditure on beef; evaluate the influence of household income and household size of expenditure on beef as well as determine other factors which influence the monthly consumption of beef by households in the study area. Structured questionnaire was used to elicit information from sixty households using the simple random sampling technique. Data was subjected to descriptive statistics and multiple regressions analysis. The findings revealed that N3612.00 was used to consume 4.874 kgs of beef per month an equivalent of 0.16kgs per day (16 grammes/day). The preferred model, double log had an R2 of 0.63 and significant F ratio of 19.34 (significant at 1% level). This indicates that household size and monthly income were the major determinants of household expenditure on beef with elasticity of demands of 0.30% and 0.46% respectively. Both variables had t values of 3.190 and 4.231 respectively. It is therefore recommended that government should enact policies aimed at boosting cattle production in order to bring down price of beef and increase the consumption of beef. Keywords: Expenditure pattern, beef consumption, household

Post-Retirement Engagement Plan Among Oil Company Workers in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria: Is there Interest in Agricultural Investment?

Workers including oil company workers are advised to plan for their exit from their employing firms or establishments to avoid been driven below poverty line after retirement There is also advocacy for people to invest in agriculture by state and federal governments This study therefore examined the level of interest in agricultural investment among oil company workers in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria in their post-retirement engagement plans From among the workers in the oil companies operating in the study area 232 respondents were selected and data were elicited from them with the use of questionnaire The data were treated with the application of descriptive statistics and Pearson s Product Moment Correlation PPMC analysis The level of interest in agricultural investment among the oil company workers is low 31 03 just as most of them had 11-15 years left to be in service and most 68 53 of them planned to remain in urban settlements after retirement Those who planned to engage in farming gave reasons such as interest ready market contacts with farmers and extension agents state of world oil market and government advocacy as the propelling factors Their level of preparedness was influenced inversely by the number of years they had left to be in service r 0 886 It is recommended that extension agencies should organize training programmes for them at intervals to enhance their entrepreneurial and technical skills in agriculture This set of people should be made opinion leaders on getting back to their villages Other workers who had not indicated interest in agricultural investment after retirement should be persuaded to develop interest in agricultur

Assessment of broiler production in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, Rivers State, Nigeria

This study was conducted to assess the production of broiler birds in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria. A total of 60 broiler farmers were randomly selected in the study area. Data were collected using well-structured questionnaire and personal interview. Descriptive statistics, enterprise budget and multiple regression models were used to analyse the data. The result showed that males dominated the broiler business with 62.3% with average age of 41.4 years, average household size was 5 persons, majority of the respondents were able to obtain tertiary education (61.67%). The result also shows that farmers made an average net profit of N974, 280.58 per production cycle. The result of the regression analysis shows that cost of feed negatively influenced the amount of revenue realized and was significant at 1% while farm size and years of experience positively influenced the farmers’ revenue at 5% significance level. Double log model was chosen as the lead equation because it showed the highest R-squared ratio of 0.7615. This means that the explanatory variables included in the model were able to explain about 76% variation in the revenue of broiler production in the study area. Major constraints in broiler production include; high cost of feed, high cost of day old chicks, inadequate extension services and inadequate funds. It is recommended that farmers should include non-conventional feed in feeding the birds in order to reduce the cost of feeding