Yield differentials among participating and non-participating rice farmers in public/private partnership in Benue and Ogun states, Nigeria

The shortfall in domestic rice production in Nigeria has been attributed to inadequate provision of productivity-enhancing agricultural support services to rice farmers. Input supply and guaranteed market that entrenched the shortfall are the focus of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement in rice production. The extent to which this has impacted on rice production was investigated in this study. Respondents totaling 235 from two rice producing states in Nigeria were purposively sampled. The respondents were further grouped into two, namely: participating farmers (PFs) and non-participating farmers (NPFs). Data relating to preferred sources of market information, perception on enabling policy environment for PPP to thrive, level of access to agricultural support services, and yield from rice production were obtained from the respondents. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, multiple regression analysis and chow test at a0.05. The results show that both PFs and NPFs still relied on traditional sources to access market information. PFs had higher access to improved rice varieties, guaranteed market and extension services delivery than NPFs. The results of chow test show that the impacts of the explanatory variables were not the same across the two groups. Quantity of seeds and farm size contributed to reduction in quantum of yield gap for PFs, while farmers' age, access and timeliness of agricultural support services provision were for NPFs. Participating farmers had higher crop yield than nonparticipating farmers. Adequate supply of seeds aided the yield of participating farmers. Nonparticipating farmers had to utilize more quantity of fertilizers to have appreciable yield.Keywords: Agricultural support services, Yield differentials, Rice production, Public private partnershi

Nicotine exacerbates reproductive biomarkers via generation of free radicals in female Wistar rats: Protective role of Quercetin

Background: Nicotine has been widely reported to generate free radicals in several organs of the body. Therefore, this study investigated the ameliorative potentials of Quercetin on selected reproductive biomarkers in female Wistar rats.Methods: Forty female rats were randomly divided into five groups (n=8) which were treated as follows: Group I (CN) received normal saline (1 ml/kg bwt); Group II (LN) received nicotine (0.5 mg/kg bwt) only; Group III (HN) received nicotine (1.0 mg/kg bwt) only; however, Groups IV (LNA) and V (HNA) received 0.5 and 1.0 mg/kg of nicotine with 20 mg/kg of quercetin respectively. All administration were done orally and lasted 28 days. Results: Nicotine significant reduction in the bioavailability of estrogen and progesterone in the treated rats when compared to control. Furthermore, relative to the control group, nicotine administration resulted in significant elevation in MDAand consequently caused significant reduction in the antioxidant enzymes (SOD and CAT) activities. However, quercetin treatment ameliorated these alterations. Conclusion: Quercetin dampens the reproductive distruptive effects exerted by nicotine through antioxidative mechanism in female Wistar rats