Economic Analysis of Cassava Production in Saki-West Local Government Area of Oyo State

This study focused on analyzing the economics of cassava production in Saki–West LGA of Oyo state, Nigeria. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 121 cassava farmers. Descriptive statistics and regression model were employed as analytical techniques. Descriptive statistics was used to describe the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents, to identify the constraints being faced by the cassava farmers and the type of cropping system they practiced. Budgetary and regression analyses were used to determine the profitability of cassava production in the study area. The result of the descriptive analysis of the respondents revealed that their mean age is 50.71 years, 84.3% of the farmers were male while the rest percentages (15.78%) were female, a large percentage (86%) of the cassava farmers were married  and most (68.7%) of the respondents have family size ≤ 10. From the BCR analysis, the benefit cost ratio of 1.7 showed that cassava production was highly profitable in the study area. The result of the regression analysis showed that farm size and Family labour were statistically significant at 1% and had positive influence on farmer’s revenue. This is because the larger the farm size, the longer the hours spent on farming activities by the household and the higher the revenue. However, the age, labour cost, cost of cassava cuttings and years of farming experience were not statistically significant to the farmer’s revenue. Policies that will make more land available to farmers will increase the farmer’s revenue and total output, thus reducing the plague of poverty and unemployment. Keywords: Benefit Cost Ratio, Cassava, Constraints and Profitabilit

Physicochemical and Heavy Metals Characteristics of Soil from Three Major Dumpsites in Ilorin Metrpolis, North Central Nigeria

Impact of waste disposal and management is a worldwide phenomenon leading to health impact most especially in underdeveloped and developing world. This study was undertaken to assess the major contaminants in some municipal waste disposal sites and the prospective impact to the surrounding domestic water supply source as well as the impact on the health of the people in the city. This is carried out by studying variousphysico-chemical parameters of soil which were collected from three municipal dump locations namely; Ita-Amodu, Sawmill garage and Kuntu areas in Ilorin metropolis, Kwara State Nigeria. The geochemistry of the dumpsites were studied with respect to important parameters such as pH, electrical conductivity, temperature, sulphates, chlorides, nitrates, moisture content, organic matter and heavy metals having the following constituents present in its composition- Cadmium (Cd), Lead (Pb), Zinc (Zn), Iron (Fe), and Copper (Cu). The study revealed that the three different soils samples: “(A) Ita-Amodu”, “(B) Sawmill Garage”, and “(C) Kuntu”) have pH of 7.1, 7.2 and 6.8, respectively. Temperature of 24.2, 26.4, and 28.0 oC, Organic matter compositions of 0.95%, 0.73%, and 1.14%. The Moisture contents were 3.93%, 2.89%, and 3.48% respectively. The chloride  contents of the samples was found to be 31.76 mg/L, 48.98 mg/L, and 91.63 mg/L, while nitrates were found to be 0.10 mg/L, 0.06, mg/L and 0.23mg/L, with a sulphate values of 1.96 mg/L, 2.35 mg/L, and 2.14 mg/L. The conductivities were 1.79 μs/cm, 2.23 μs/cm, and 1.15 μs/cm respectively. Heavy metal analysis from the waste soil were found to contained copper (Cu) - 0.03 mg/L, 0.028 mg/L, and 0.031 mg/L, zinc (Zn) - 0.04, mg/L 0.009 mg/L, and 0.066 mg/L), cadmium (Cd) - 0.516 mg/L, 0.62, mg/L and 0.048 mg/L), Lead (Pb) - 0.063 mg/L, 0.07 mg/L, and 0.056 mg/L), and iron (Fe) -0.518 mg/L, 0.62 mg/L, and 0.190 mg/L. Keywords: Dumpsites, Heavy metals, Ilorin, Moisture contents, Nitrates