Land tenurial systems and the adoption of Mucuna planted fallow in the derived savannas of West Africa:

In 1987, an improved resource management system that incorporates velvet bean (Mucuna pruriens var. utilis) to address soil fertility and weed (Imperata cylindrica) infestation was introduced to the small-scale farmers in a densely populated area of the derived savannas in Benin Republic (West Africa). Six years later, an adoption study was conducted to assess factors driving the adoption process. Four types of land tenure systems based on mode of access to land were identified: divided inheritance, purchasing, gifts, and sharecropping/renting. The first three provide long-term security over land, and together, they represent about 76 percent of the survey fields. Results from three variants of a probit model indicated that security over land was among the factors that significantly affect the adoption of the technology, with a high marginal effect on the probability of adoption, while gender did not have a significant effect. The most important determinant for adoption is the number of times a field is weeded during a cropping season (a proxy for the amount of labor required to tend a crop for better yields). High weeding requirements favorably affect the adoption of velvet bean only if farmers have full security on the degraded (weedy) land. The predominance of land tenure systems that provide secure property rights, namely the traditional acquisition of land through inheritance or gift mode and the gradual development of a land market, facilitated a quick spread of the Mucuna planted fallows in the study region.Watershed management., Water use India Citizen participation., Irrigation projects India., Gender, Property rights, Agricultural technology, Agricultural growth,

Risk aversion and sustainable maize production in Nigeria: Some challenges and prospects for agricultural and economic development

This paper determines the degree or extent of farmer’s risk aversion that affects sustainable maize production in Northern Nigeria. Using a ridge regression analysis, a measure of risk aversion was derived for each individual farmer in a model of safety-first behaviour from a cross-sectional survey of 350 maize producers in northern Nigeria. The distribution of the degree of risk aversion shows a high skewness towards the risk averters (high risk farmers) and centered around 1.20, and standard deviation of 0.37. This distribution is then explained by a set of specific variables that characterize the farmers’ behaviour in the study area using a Tobit model. Susceptibility to risk was found to be highly premised on the socioeconomic factors (e.g. age of household head), farm specific variables (e.g. proportion of income from maize) and farmers’ attitudinal factors against risk (e.g. safety first level of probability of sale). These findings can be used to construct a framework of development programs for peasant farmers, which provide some challenging prospectsMaize, Nigeria, Risk aversion, Tobit model, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, International Relations/Trade, Marketing, Productivity Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

A Game Theoretic Approach to Analyse Cooperation between Rural Households in Northern Nigeria

Much research focuses on development of new agricultural technologies to reduce poverty levels of the large population of smallholder farms in Sub Saharan Africa. In this paper we argue that smallholders can also increase their production in a different way, namely by using their resources more efficiently through cooperation. This is obtained by grouping their (heterogeneous) resources and making joint decisions based on the aggregate resources. Afterwards, the gains of the joint production are divided, such that each farmer remains independent. This type of cooperation is modeled using linear programming and cooperative game theory. While linear programming establishes insight in optimal farm plans for farmers that cooperate, game theory is used to generate fair divisions of the extra gain that is established by cooperation. The model is applied to a village in Northern Nigeria. Households are clustered based on socio-economic parameters, and we explore cooperation. The optimal farm plan of the cooperative (i.e., farmers cooperate) contains more crops with high market and nutritional value, such as cowpea and sugarcane. We show that the gross margin of the cooperative is 12% higher than the sum of the individual gross margins. To divide these gains, we consider four established solution concepts from game theory that divide these extra gains: the Owen value, Shapley value, compromise value and nucleolus. An interesting result is that all farmers gain from cooperation and that the four solution concepts give similar results. Finally, we show how the provision of micro-credit can be used to stimulate cooperation in practice, benefiting the least-endowed farmers as well.Linear Programming;Agriculture;Household models;Cooperative Game Theory;Nigeria

A validation study on the insertion depth ranges of the five phase points by using musculoskeletal ultrasound: A pilot study

SummaryObjectivesWe conducted preliminary research to validate the insertion depth ranges of the five phase points by using ultrasonography.Design and settingThe insertion depth ranges of the five phase points were investigated by reviewing acupuncture and moxibustion literature. The following lengths were measured in centimetres in order to substitute B-cun values with centimetre values: the distance from the cubital crease to the palmar crease, from the inferior border of the medial tibia condyle to the medial malleolus, and from the popliteal crease to the prominence of the lateral malleolus. The five phase points were represented by pen marks on the skin, per the World Health Organization acupuncture point specifications. The anatomical structures of the five phase points within the insertion depth ranges were observed using colour Doppler ultrasound.ResultsThe five phase points for which the insertion depth ranges needed to be modified were LU11, HT9, PC9, LI1, LI2, SI1, SI2, TE1, ST45, BL66, GB44, SP1, SP2, LR1, and BL67. The five phase points that required careful insertion of acupuncture needles were LU8, LU9, LU10, LI5, ST36, ST41, SP3, HT4, HT7, HT8, SI3, SI8, BL40, KI2, KI3, KI10, KI27, GB34, GB38, LR3, and LR4.ConclusionThis preliminary study provided evidence on the insertion depths in acupuncture treatment. To generate more concrete evidence regarding insertion depths, further research should be conducted in a participant group with more diverse body mass index (BMI) values by using acupoint-specific ultrasonography transducers that can measure the acupoints properly

Adoption of a New Maize and Production Efficiency in Western Kenya

Declining yields of maize as a result of Striga infestation has necessitated a new technology known as Imazapyr-resistant maize (IRM) to contain the problem. As a result, research and development initiatives with substantial participation of the private sector to transfer this new technology to farmers have been made in western Kenya. This study therefore assesses the adoption of IRM variety and efficiency levels of farmers in western Kenya. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select a total of 600 households from Nyanza and Western provinces for this study. Tobit model and stochastic production frontier analysis were the analytical methods. Results show that age, education, maize production gap, risk, contact with extension agents, lack of seeds, membership in social group, effective pathway for IRM dissemination and compatibility of the technology are the variables that were found to be significant (P<0.05) in shaping the decisions of households on whether to adopt or not. The study reveals that the mean technical efficiency of maize production of sampled farmers is 70% indicating some inefficiencies of maize production in western Kenya. Also, adoption of IRM significantly increased frontier maize output (P<0.01); household size decreased inefficiency along with farm size. It was recommended that efforts to increase adoption of IRM for enhanced farm efficiency should focus on farmers’ education, farming experience and access to information and farm basic inputs.IRM technology, efficiency, stochastic production frontier, Tobit model, Crop Production/Industries,

Ex-Ante Evaluation of Nutrition and Health Benefits of Biofortified Cassava Roots in Nigeria: The Dalys Approach

Cassava is a major staple that supplies more than 50% of daily energy to more than 200 million persons in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Cassava roots are known to be low in micronutrients such as vitamin A, iron, and zinc. Micronutrient deficiencies threaten the lives of millions of poor households and those located in remote rural areas of SSA often not targeted by fortification programmes. This paper presents results from an ex-ante evaluation of nutrition and health benefits of increased vitamin A status of cassava roots through biofortification for at-risk-target-groups using the disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) approach. Results showed that Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) causes an annual loss of about 553,000 years of healthy life in Nigeria with children constituting more than forty percent. Biofortified cassava would reduce VAD by 4.42%, 11.73%, and 3.14% for children, pregnant women, and lactating women respectively in the pessimistic scenario. Results for the optimistic scenario are 28.79%, 76.39, and 20.45% respectively. The biofortification of cassava roots would result in annual gains of about 33,000 years of healthylife and avert 166 child deaths per year for the pessimistic scenario and about 220,000 years life and 1272 child deaths per year for the optimistic scenario. In economic terms, such a programme would bring gains amounting to about $10 million per year, which Biofortification, DALYs, Economics, Health, corresponds to an internal rate of return (IRR) as high as 92.4$63 million per year and an IRR of 165.3%. A research and development effort aimed at the biofortification of cassava roots is a powerful strategy in the fight against hidden hunger from micronutrient deficiencies, which African governments at the national and local levels, and international investors should support to improve the standard of living of the people in SSA.Cassava, Biofortification, DALYs, Economics, Health, Nigeria, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy,

CONTRIBUTIONS OF AGRICULTURAL IMPROVED TECHNOLOGIES TO RURAL POVERTY ALLEVIATION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: CASE OF IMAZAPYR-RESISTANT MAIZE IN WESTERN KENYA

Last two decades have been dominated by issues on poverty as major growth area with the adoption by United Nations member countries of the Millennium Development Goals, the first of which calls for halving the incidence of poverty and hunger by 2015, this has underlined the importance of introduction of improved agricultural technologies. Most poor rural households in developing countries usually depend on agriculture and have to cope with poverty stills a rural phenomenon. Agricultural production has continuously decreased, subject to serious limitations such as declining soil fertility, diseases, pests, drought and erosion plaguing crops growing areas. This situation should have encouraged rural households to increasingly consider the use of promising technologies. This study was done using a case of imazapyr-resistant maize (IRM) technology for combating noxious Striga weed which has devastating effects on maize production in western Kenya. A cross sectional survey that included randomly a total selected sample of 600 households of which 169 IRM users and 431 non-users was employed.IRM technology, striga control, poverty reduction, Kenya., Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

The Efficiency-Equity Tradeoffs in Agricultural Research Priority Setting: The Potential Impacts of Agricultural Research on Economic Surplus and Poverty Reduction in Nigeria

Public agricultural research has come under increasing pressure to redefine its strategic priorities to contribute to poverty alleviation goals. However, the issue of whether the poor benefit more from agricultural research that pursues efficiency or equity objectives remains unresolved, largely due to lack of empirical evidence on the nature and magnitude of the efficiencyequity tradeoffs. This paper estimates the potential impacts of agricultural research on economic surplus and poverty reduction in Nigeria, identifies strategic priorities according to both efficiency and equity criteria, and examines the nature and magnitude of the efficiencyequity tradeoffs. The results show that there are no significant efficiencyequity tradeoffs because the rural poor in Nigeria depend mainly on the production of food staples for both consumption and household income. Although introducing a poverty dimension does not result in a significant shift in strategic priorities, greater benefits to the poor are possible through poverty-based targeting without compromising total benefits. However, efforts made towards the realization of potential benefits to the poor from pursuing either efficiency or equity objectives would be more important than mere targeting of research. Therefore, both agricultural research and support services, including extension, credit, input supply, and infrastructure, should be targeted to the poor to achieve poverty alleviation goals through agricultural research.poverty reduction, economic surplus, research priority setting, Nigeria, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, I32, I38, O13, O32, Q16,

A Game Theoretic Approach to Analyse Cooperation between Rural Households in Northern Nigeria

To improve the livelihood of the poor in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) much attention has been paid to the development of new agricultural technologies. We hypothesize that farmers can also improve their livelihood through cooperation. Partial cooperation, in which knowledge is shared or bargaining power improved, is relatively common in SSA, while cooperation where all resources are fully shared, which we address, has rarely been investigated. An important pre-requisite to establish such cooperation, is the need for a fair division rule for the gains of the cooperation. This paper combines linear programming and cooperative game theory to model the effects of cooperation of (individual) households on income and farm plans. Linear programming establishes insight in the optimal farm plans in cooperation, and cooperative game theory is used to generate fair division rules. The model is applied to a village in Northern Nigeria. Households are clustered based on socio-economic parameters, and we explore cooperation between clusters. Cooperation leads to increased income and results in changes in farm plans, because more efficient use of resources leads to more intensified agriculture (labour intensive – high value crops).Cooperations, Linear Programming, Nigeria, Livelihood, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, International Relations/Trade, Marketing, Productivity Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,