Socio-cultural factors Hindering Adoption of Technologies by Women-In-Agriculture Farmers in Enugu State, Nigeria.

The study was carried out to ascertain the socio-cultural factors hindering adoption of technologies by Women-In-Agriculture (WIA) farmers in Enugu State, Nigeria. A multi-stage random sampling technique was used to select two hundred and forty (240) WIA farmers that served as the respondents. WIA farmers are the women groups that are registered with the ENADEP and visited by the WIA block extension agents. Structured questionnaire as well as focus Group Discussion were used to elicit information from the respondents and the information collected were analysed using percentages, mean, likert scale and factor analysis. The major findings show that the WIA farmers were exposed to crop production, animal production, farm product processing and non-farm technologies in the study area. The results also show that the general adoption levels of these technologies were low. Reasons sought for such low adoption levels show that type of technologies (0s = 3.29) gender-biased land issues (0s= 3.28), institutional problems (finance and marketing) (0s = 3.78 & 3.17) among other problems constituted towards the low adoption level. It was therefore recommended that the programme needs to be reorganised to include other low input crops, such as cocoyam and potato; more women groups should be formed and more female extension agents should be trained and employed for more effective coverage. Keywords: Adoption, Factors, Farmers, Hindering, Socio-cultural, Technologies & WIA. International Journal of Agriculture and Development Vol. 9 2007: pp. 48-5

Intensity Of Agricultural Labour Use By Gender In Rural Households Of Imo State

This study was designed to analyze the intensity of agricultural labour use by gender and its determinants in rural households of Imo State. Data were collected with structured questionnaire from 60 male and 60 female headed households, and analysed using means, frequency distribution, percentages and ordinary least squares multiple regression model. The amount of labour use per hectare was estimated at about 186.5 mandays and 203. 7 mandays for male and female farmers respectively. Determinants of labour use intensity by gender were labour requirements for land preparation, labour required for planting, labour required for weeding, labour required for harvesting type of tools used, timing of farm operations, length of fallow period, difference in income between farm and non-farm products, state of infrastructure and labour according to type of crop mixture. There is need to develop labour saving technologies to achieve increased food crops outputs and farm income in Imo State. Keywords: intensity, agricultural labour, gender, rural households JOAFSS Vol. 4 (1) 2006: pp. 51-5

Agriculture Lecturers’ Perception of the Benefits of Professional Meetings in Nigeria

The study assessed Agriculture lecturer’s perception of the benefits of professional meetings in Nigeria. The study was conducted in Southeast and southsouth geo political zone of Nigeria. Multistage sampling technique was used to select eighty agriculture lecturers for the study. Data were collected with the aid of structured questionnaire and analysed using frequency counts, percentages and mean. Of the eighty agriculture lecturers used for the study, 59% were male, 81% married and 55% had their doctorate degree. The mean age and working experience were 43yrs and 11yrs respectively. Majority (98.8%) had attended national professional meetings in the past five years while only 32.5% had attended international professional meetings in the past five years. Also, 77% attend at most two professional meetings in a year. Of the five professional meetings (conferences, workshop, trainings, symposiums and seminar) examined in this study, result show that agriculture lecturers attach so much value to conferences (M =3.78). It was also shown that agriculture lecturers strongly perceive the benefits of professional meetings to be: connects one to relevant networking team (M = 3.86), exposes one to new arrears in agriculture (M = 3.82) and gives one the opportunity to contribute his/her quota to knowledge. Based on the results of the study, it was recommended the need to support agriculture lecturer’s attendance to international conferences and other international professional meetings to enable them expand their networking and collaboration activities. This is by offering sponsorships and other incentives to lecturers whose papers are accepted for presentation in such meetings

Agriculture Lecturers’ Perception of the Benefits of Professional Meetings in Nigeria

The study assessed Agriculture lecturer’s perception of the benefits of professional meetings in Nigeria. The study was conducted in Southeast and southsouth geo political zone of Nigeria. Multistage sampling technique was used to select eighty agriculture lecturers for the study. Data were collected with the aid of structured questionnaire and analysed using frequency counts, percentages and mean. Of the eighty agriculture lecturers used for the study, 59% were male, 81% married and 55% had their doctorate degree. The mean age and working experience were 43yrs and 11yrs respectively. Majority (98.8%) had attended national professional meetings in the past five years while only 32.5% had attended international professional meetings in the past five years. Also, 77% attend at most two professional meetings in a year. Of the five professional meetings (conferences, workshop, trainings, symposiums and seminar) examined in this study, result show that agriculture lecturers attach so much value to conferences (M =3.78). It was also shown that agriculture lecturers strongly perceive the benefits of professional meetings to be: connects one to relevant networking team (M = 3.86), exposes one to new arrears in agriculture (M = 3.82) and gives one the opportunity to contribute his/her quota to knowledge. Based on the results of the study, it was recommended the need to support agriculture lecturer’s attendance to international conferences and other international professional meetings to enable them expand their networking and collaboration activities. This is by offering sponsorships and other incentives to lecturers whose papers are accepted for presentation in such meetings

Technical and Economic Efficiencies in Poultry Production in Imo State, Nigeria

This study was carried out to estimate the technical and economic efficiencies of poultry farmers in Imo State, Nigeria. The data was collected with semi-structured questionnaire from 140 randomly selected poultry farmers. A stochastic frontier production function was estimated by using the maximum likelihood estimation technique to obtain the technical and economic efficiencies of poultry farmers. The mean technical efficiency of poultry farmers was 75 percent, while their mean economic efficiency was 21 percent. The generalized likelihood test indicated that, the poultry farmers are not fully technically and economically efficient in resource use. There is 79% allowance to increase economic efficiency of poultry farmers by improvement in technical efficiency