Agricultural Co-Operatives and Training of Male and Female Farmers on Improved Rice (Oryza sativa) Production Techniques in Ini Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

This study assessed the extent to which agricultural cooperatives carryout the training of male and female farmers on improved rice (Oryza sativa) production techniques in Ini Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom state, Nigeria using research questions for 2,500 (male and female) rice farmer cooperative members in the study Area. Data analysis for 1600 completed questionnaire collected revealed that male and female farmers were not efficiently trained by agricultural cooperatives on improved rice production techniques. Moreso, there were no significant difference on the extent of carrying out the training of male and female farmers by agricultural cooperatives on improved rice production techniques in Ini Local Government Area. It is recommended among others that Agricultural cooperatives should organize periodic training sessions for rice farmers through the use of facilities and demonstration in the farm. The Government, through The Ministry of Agriculture should encourage and support agricultural cooperatives by providing materials and adequate funding to enable them perform their primary assignment creditably

Households’ Decision to Participate in Cooperative Organizations: Evidence from Farmers in Akwa Ibom State, Southern Nigeria

Farmer organizations are effective mechanisms for increasing agricultural production, income and reducing poverty. Regrettably, farmers have not taken advantage of the lofty benefits accruable to those who voluntarily join these organizations. The study estimated the factors influencing household’s decision to participate in cooperative organizations and also tested the level of agreement among identified constraints linked with participation. Multistage sampling procedure was employed to select 120 farmers for the study. Primary data were obtained using questionnaires. Data were analyzed using Probit model and Kendall’s coefficient of concordance. Results of analyses revealed that the mean age, years of educational attainment household size and years of farming experience were 32, 15, 5 and 7 respectively. Result of probit analysis further indicate that age of the farmer, farm income, household size, participation in meeting, major decision maker, distance of farm to the nearest road and farmers social status were the most critical factors influencing household’s decision to participate in cooperative organizations. Result of Kendall’s coefficient of concordance revealed that there was 0.42 (moderate agreement) between the ranking of constraints associated with farmers' participation in cooperative organizations. Furthermore, findings showed that the top five factors limiting households’ decision to participate in cooperative organizations were inadequate capital accumulation, high embezzlement of funds, poor leadership, recurring internal crises and lack of initiative. Policies to provide good and accessible roads, increase farmers incomes and encourage youths are rational options that will enhance effective participation in cooperative organizations

Farmers’ perception and Knowledge need for adoption of new cultivars of cassava in Igabi Local Government Area (LGA), Kaduna State.

The study examined farmers’ perception and knowledge need for adoption new varieties of cassava in Igabi LGA, Kaduna State. The purpose of the research was to;( 1) ascertain how cassava farmers in the area perceive the new varieties of cassava vis-a-vis the technologies required for its propagation, and (2) the relationship between the existing and recommended knowledge of cassava cultivation in the area. Seventy six respondents used for the study were selected by random sampling while focus group discussion and interview schedule were employed to gather data. Data were analyzed by mean score analysis. The result of the analysis shows that majority (36.8%) were between 30- 39 years, 89% married and 34.2% had secondary education while 50% had regular extension contact. However, out of five (5) main recommended production technologies, only two- planting methods (51.3%) and weeding interval (56.6%) were in line with farmers’ previous experience or knowledge. Farmers perceived the new cassava cultivars as beneficial through its high yielding capacity (3.3*), fast maturity (3.1) and disease resistance (2.5) among others, while capital and marketing (3.2 apiece), farm size (3.0) were among the perceived constraints to adoption of the new cultivars. The study recommended among others formation of cooperative society to aid farming activities in the area. Keywords: awareness, benefit, constraints, knowledge of planting cassava, perception

Constraining Quark-Hadron Duality at Large-Nc

Quark-meson duality for two-point functions of vector and axial-vector QCD currents is investigated in the large-Nc approximation. We find that the joint constraints of duality and chiral symmetry imply degeneracy of excited vector and axial-vector mesons in the large-Nc limit. We compare model-independent constraints with expectations based on the Veneziano-Lovelace-Shapiro string model. Several models of duality are constructed, and phenomenological implications are discussed.Comment: 16 pages TeX, uses mtexsis.te

Endoparasites of Bucks Raised under Intensive and Semi-Intensive System

An investigation was carried out on bucks in intensive and semi-intensive systems of management. A total of sixteen (16) bucks (male goats) were randomly purchased for the study. The animals were divided into four groups of four animals per treatment and fed Panicum maximum, Gliricidia sepium for Treatment 1 while Treatment 2 were fed Panicum maximum, Gliricidia sepium plus concentrates. Those in T3 were fed concentrate and allowed to graze and T4 were fed Panicum maximum and were also allowed to forage. The result showed significant difference (P<0.05) in infestations of strongyles amongst the treatments

Total photoproduction cross-section at very high energy

In this paper we apply to photoproduction total cross-section a model we have proposed for purely hadronic processes and which is based on QCD mini-jets and soft gluon re-summation. We compare the predictions of our model with the HERA data as well as with other models. For cosmic rays, our model predicts substantially higher cross-sections at TeV energies than models based on factorization but lower than models based on mini-jets alone, without soft gluons. We discuss the origin of this difference.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in EPJC. Changes concern added references, clarifications of the Soft Gluon Resummation method used in the paper, and other changes requested by the Journal referee which do not change the results of the original versio