Profit efficiency among paddy farmers: a Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier production function analysis

A multiple regression model based on Stochastic Frontier Profit Function which assumed Cobb-Douglass specification form was estimated using a cross-sectional data obtained from a sample of 397 Paddy households via Multi-stage and simple random sampling techniques. Maximum likelihood estimates of the specified profit model revealed that profit efficiencies of the producers varied between 30.5% and 94.8% with a mean of 73.2% suggesting that an estimated 26.8% of the profit is lost due to a combination of technical and allocative inefficiencies in Paddy production. Results from the technical inefficiency model revealed that credit education, farming experience, extension service, MR219 seed variety, broadcast planting method, machine broadcasting method and herbicides were significant factors influencing profit inefficiency. This shows that profit inefficiency in Paddy production could be shortened significantly with improvement in the level of the above socio-economics characteristics of the sampled farmers

Analysis of Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) Marketing and Price Trends in Selected Markets of Argungu Local Government Area, Kebbi State, Nigeria

The study analyzed cowpea marketing and price trends in selected rural and urban markets of Argungu Local Government Area, Kebbi State, Nigeria. A single-stage sampling technique was used for sample selection. The samples were collected from purposively selected Kara markets in Argungu (reference market), Felande, Gulma, Lailaba and Sauwa (supplying markets) from the selected Districts. Primary data were obtained from a sample of 100 marketers with the aid of the structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and spatial price model were employed in analyzing the data. Results of the analysis shows an average age of marketers to be 34 years, 69% were married and 62% have formal education with an average household size of 8 persons. However, 73% were discovered not join any cooperative association while 79% of them do not have access to credit to finance their business. Analysis of spatial aspects of pricing efficiency showed that the positive price spread is slightly high, even after considering plausible levels of unmeasured transaction costs. The trend in price revealed higher price per bag during the off-season (N27, 000/bag) in July and August and low (N15, 000) during harvest (October,November, December and January). Temporal aspects showed considerable risk was involved in storage operations to achieve high profits. The marketing channels identified in the study area were; Farmers, Village merchants, Wholesalers, Retailers, Processors and finally the Consumers. The constraints identified in the study area were lack of access to credit (25.69%), inadequate market information (24.59%), inadequate market infrastructure (22.65%), provision of quality product (16.02%) and poor storage facilities (11.05%). It is recommended that sellers should form cooperatives that can support them in provision of physical facilities and better dissemination of market intelligence and facts. Accordingly, to alleviate the problem of access to credit in the study area, awareness campaign and provision of such credit facilities at affordable level by the relevant stakeholders (State and Local Government authorities) could be an excellent  performance in enhancing the marketing activities in the study area

Socio-economic Factors Influencing Extension Workers’ Effective use of Knowledge Management in Agricultural Extension Services

The study assessed the factors influencing extension workers effective use of Knowledge Management (KM) inSokoto State, Nigeria. Purposive sampling procedure was used to sample respondents from the study area andExtension Workers were selected from Sokoto Agricultural Development Project (SADP). Socio-economiccharacteristics were using structured questionnaire and a total of 188 respondents were sampled and data collectedanalysed using descriptive statistics and logit model as tools of analysis. The result of the study showed that 74.4% ofthe extension workers were male and majority (79.8%) were married. More so, 35% of the extension workers arewithin the age range of 31 – 40 years with household average size of 5-10 children. Majority (79%) of the extensionworkers had tertiary education. (35%) had experience ranging from 21-25 years on extension service delivery. About41% of respondents used motor cycle as a mean of transportation. Result of logit model shows that marital status,level of education, service experience, cosmopolitness and means of transportation had positive and significantrelationship with effectiveness of KM whereas household size and rank of extension workers had significant andnegative relationship with KM. It is therefore recommended that KM be encouraged and disseminated through topmanagement approach in SADP. This will avail quality and better extension service delivery by extension agencybecause the vast knowledge and experience garnered on effective extension service delivery by top managementofficer will be shared and passed on to junior officers. This will go in line with strengthening and improving thecapacity building of extension workers

Production risk and technical inefficiency of paddy farms in MADA granary area, Malaysia

This study models technical inefficiency with production risk in inputs as two possible sources of the production variability that characterized Malaysian Paddy Production. Data from a total of 397 Paddy farms randomly sampled from MADA granary area were used for the analysis. The data for the study was sourced from the survey conducted for the period of 2014 farming season. The study employed a trans-log stochastic frontier production function model with flexible risk specification. The empirical estimates revealed that the mean output is positively influenced by seed, fertilizer, agrochemicals and labour. Fertilizer and agrochemicals are found to be riskreducing inputs, while seed and labour is revealed to be risk-increasing inputs. This by implication means that an average risk-averse producer is expected to use more of fertilizer and agrochemicals and less of seed and labour compared to risk-neutral producer in the study area. Several characteristics of farm operators such as age, education, marital status, household size, farming experience, extension visit, credit access, farm location, cultivation technology, MR219 and MR220CL2 seed variety, planting technology, broadcasting technology, agrochemicals use and harvesting technology were found to have significant effects on the technical inefficiency of paddy production in the study area. It was also revealed that extension visit, credit access, MR219 seed variety, MR220CL2 seed variety, method of broadcasting and harvesting technology significantly reduces the technical inefficiency of producers. The estimated technical efficiency indicates that the efficiency score is overstated when the production technology of the paddy farms is modelled without flexible risk component (87.1 percent) while it was found when estimated with risk component to be 83.6 percent. Profit efficiency of paddy farmers in the study area was also estimated. The model revealed that MADA farmers do not operate on the profit frontier. The average profit efficiency of 73.2 percent implies that, although farmers in the study area are relatively profit efficient, there are clear opportunities that exist for increasing their profit efficiency by almost an average of 27% through improving their technical and allocative efficiency

Developing a model for vision-based progress measurement and visualisation of as-built construction operations

Traditional ways of capturing the progress of work on construction sites rely on manual means. This often involves subjectivity and is therefore prone to error. In addition, the timing of this manual approach is usually too infrequent to allow for prompt control actions. This study is about automating the process of measuring work in progress and integrating that with design, planning, and as-built documentation of progress information. The work reported in this study is a subset of an EPSRC funded project that aims to investigate applications of computer vision techniques to the measurement of work in progress. The key issues addressed are the conceptual design of the entire system and the computer implementation of a model for documenting as-built pro information.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Impact of Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) on Smallholder Rice Farmers in Kebbi State, Nigeria

The study examined the impact of Anchor Borrowers Programme on smallholder rice farmers in Kebbi State, Nigeria. A multi stage sampling technique was used to select 500 beneficiary and non-beneficiary rice farmers each giving a sample size of 1000 farmers for the study. Data collected were analysed using Descriptive statistics such as percentages, frequency distribution, performance indices computation, t-test, Chow-test and production function analysis. The results of the analysis of the Chow F computation indicated that there is a significant difference in the production function of beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries respectively since the computed Chow F value of 21.128 was greater than that of the critical F- value at the 0.01 probability level. This is an indication that the ABP performed well. The results further revealed that the two groups of rice farmers were not operating on the same production function. ABP significantly and positively affected output and income of the beneficiary farmers in the study area. It is recommended that Policies should be tailored towards inclusiveness of more farmers into the ABP. The programme should also be extended to cater for other sub-sectors of the Agricultural sectors such as Livestock and Aquaculture. 

Impact of Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) on Smallholder Rice Farmers in Kebbi State, Nigeria

The study examined the impact of Anchor Borrowers Programme on smallholder rice farmers in Kebbi State, Nigeria. A multi stage sampling technique was used to select 500 beneficiary and non-beneficiary rice farmers each giving a sample size of 1000 farmers for the study. Data collected were analysed using Descriptive statistics such as percentages, frequency distribution, performance indices computation, t-test, Chow-test and production function analysis. The results of the analysis of the Chow F computation indicated that there is a significant difference in the production function of beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries respectively since the computed Chow F value of 21.128 was greater than that of the critical F- value at the 0.01 probability level. This is an indication that the ABP performed well. The results further revealed that the two groups of rice farmers were not operating on the same production function. ABP significantly and positively affected output and income of the beneficiary farmers in the study area. It is recommended that Policies should be tailored towards inclusiveness of more farmers into the ABP. The programme should also be extended to cater for other sub-sectors of the Agricultural sectors such as Livestock and Aquacultur

Framework for a generic work breakdown structure for building projects

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework for the standardisation of the work breakdown structure (WBS) for building projects. This is based on the premise that buildings in general retain basic elemental options, and that there is a commonality of activities in the procurement of building projects. Design/methodology/approach – To achieve the objective, the general practice of developing the WBS is investigated. This is achieved by means of an industry-wide questionnaire survey designed to identify the most widely used criteria among UK construction organisations in segregating building works into packages. The survey also investigates the sequencing of these criteria across the WBS hierarchy. Findings – The findings reveal that the most frequently used decomposition criteria in the formulation of WBS for building projects are elements, work sections, physical location and construction aids. The proposed framework is presented as a hierarchical decomposition of a building project based on these criteria. It allows for flexibility in level of detail while maintaining a rigid sequencing of the criteria based on their frequency of use. Originality/value – This paper reports on a specific part of an EPSRC funded project that aims to investigate the application of computer vision techniques to the on-site measurement of construction progress. The part reported in this paper addresses planning issues that will lead to automatic generation of work packages. Previous studies have focused on automating the planning aspect by associating individual components with schedule information. However, large construction projects usually consist of thousands of components. Planning and tracking progress at the level of the component is unrealistic in these instances. The standardisation framework reported in this paper will form the basis for automating the formulation of work packages, thus providing a uniform basis for tracking progress (based on computer vision) during project executio

As-built Documentation of Construction Sequence by Integrating Virtual Reality with Time-lapse Movies

Previous research in the documentation and visualization of as-built construction sequences focused on time-lapse movies. However, a major drawback associated with this approach is the difficulty of interacting with the scene in the image. This does not aid comprehension and interpretation of the job site. In order to address this issue, this research proposes the integration of time-lapse movies with 4D virtual reality (VR) models in a complementary fashion. The VR model provides users with the functionality of interacting and exploring the scene, thereby improving comprehension of the job site. The paper presents the development and implementation of a model for documenting as-built construction operations by integrating time-lapse movies with 4D virtual reality models. First, the conceptual model is developed. Based on this, a Windows-based prototype is developed using Visual Basic.Net as a programming interface. The prototype was implemented and tested on a new postgraduate building at Heriot Watt University. The integrated model adequately captures the as-built sequence of construction and provides a quick and effective means of searching for images in an image database. The system has the potential to support education, claims investigation and dispute resolution

Automating progress measurement of construction projects

The accurate and up to date measurement of work in progress on construction sites is vital for project management functions like schedule and cost control. Currently, it takes place using traditional building surveying techniques and visual inspections. The usually monthly measurements are error prone and not frequent enough for reliable and effective project controls. This paper explores the potential of using computer vision technology in assisting the project management task. In particular, it examines the development of an integrated building information system that aims to determine the progress of construction from digital images captured on site in order to semi-automate the work in progress measurement and calculation of interim payments as well as function as an early warning system of potential delays. The study focuses on the quantity rather than quality aspect of work and is limited to the superstructure of buildings