Determinants of Awareness of Credit Procurement Procedures and Farmers Income in Minna Metropolis, Nigeria

The study analysed the determinants of awareness of credit procurement procedures and farmers income in Minna Metropolis, Niger State. A total of 90 farmers were randomly sampled from six villages around Minna Metropolis. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain data from the respondents in the study area. Descriptive statistics and three stage least square estimate were used to determine the relationship between farmers’ socio economics factors, utilization of credit and total value of output, amount of credit procured and awareness of credit procurement procedures. The result appears to suggest that older farmers are not keen on available agricultural credit and tend to run the farm enterprise as a social enterprise. In view of this, and in order to reposition agriculture, farmers have to be enlightened to run their farm enterprise as a business and procure credit in order to increase the capital investment in the farm enterprise

Comparative Analysis of the Profitability of Maize and Sorghum Based Cropping Enterprises in Nigeria State, Nigeria

This study examined the profitability of maize and sorghum based cropping enterprises in Niger State, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling technique was employed for selecting the respondents and data were collected using structured questionnaires from a total of 360 maize and sorghum- based farming household heads in 9 Local Government Areas across the three agricultural zones of the state. The specific objectives were to estimate the costs and returns of maize and sorghum production under sole and intercropping systems and compare the profitability of these enterprises across the agricultural zones of the State. Descriptive statistics and farm budgeting technique were used to analyze the data collected. The profitability analysis indicate that returns from sole maize cropping enterprise is the lowest but combinations of maize with other crops tends to yield higher returns. Across the State, N1.35, N1.58 and N1.31 was realized for every N1.00 invested in production of maize/sorghum cropping enterprises by farmers in Zone I, Zone II and Zone III of Niger State agricultural zones respectively. The net farm income/ha was N36,735.44 with an average gross margin/ha of N38,378.41 was realized by the maize/sorghum based farmers. The gross ratio of 0.44 and the operating ratio of 0.40 are indicators that maize/sorghum based cropping enterprises was profitable. The study recommended that farmers should be enlightened on the higher returns to investment and profitability of cultivating maize in combination and with other crops instead of sorghum combinations. Appropriate production technologies that reduce labour cost in maize and sorghum production should be adopted by farmers to enhance farmers’ incomes and livelihoods

Cost Efficiency of Sorghum/Cowpea Intercropping System in Kebbi State, Nigeria

Cost efficiency is a state of optimal allocation of factors of production in which any other allocation will result to higher cost. In that case, the selection of farm inputs at minimum cost will help to reduce production cost and hence improve profitability of the farmers This research investigated the optimal allocation of factors of production by sorghum/cowpea intercrop farmers in Kebbi State Nigeria, with the aim of generating reliable information on their determinants. The technique applied in order to achieve the objectives of the study were the data envelopment analysis (DEA) and the ordinary least squares (OLS) regression. The data were obtained mainly from primary sources through a questionnaire survey of 256 monocroppers and intercroppers. Seventy-three sorghum/cowpea intercroppers were used for the cost efficiency analysis. The results show that the average cost efficiency of the sorghum/cowpea farmers in the study area was 0.52 indicating that the farmers were relatively cost inefficient. The result further indicated that years of farming experience and age of the farmer positively affected cost efficiency while access to credit and land fragmentation were found to decrease cost efficiency. Reduction in production cost through accessing support services such as subsidies on farm inputs, provision of credit, extension services and trainings on good agricultural practices by Government agricultural related and non-governmental agencies will also help farmers to apply the recommended farm inputs, which is also likely to influence cost efficiency positively. Farmers should also be sensitized on the benefits of having contiguous farms. This will lead to increase in the benefits from improving cost efficiency of the farmers in Kebbi State

Review of Marketing Board Policy: Comparative Analysis of Cocoa Pricing Eras in Nigeria

The study focuses on reviewing the marketing policies with the specific interest in comparing the price of cocoa during marketing board era with that of the post-marketing board era. The study objectives include examining the prevailing economic situations; comparing the producer and consumer prices during the two eras; and evaluate the effect of the two marketing board eras on cocoa production. Time series data for the period 1966 to 2009, were sourced from Cocoa Research Institute, Ibadan, FAOSTAT and Annual Bulletin of Statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics. Descriptive statistics, Trend analysis and Co-integration Analysis were used to analyse the data. The result revealed that that there is trend in the cocoa production during the marketing board era as compared to the post-marketing board era. This is attributed to the increase in the prices experienced in post marketing board era. The study also established that during the marketing board era, prices and marketing margins affected the production of cocoa. The marketing board era had positive impact on the cocoa production although the trend analysis revealed the post marketing era has higher production. Thus the study recommends that Government and cocoa farmers should learn from the price stabilization mechanism of marketing board era. The government should move away from direct involvement in running the economy such as the marketing of cocoa

LEVELS AND DRIVERS OF VULNERABILITY TO CLIMATE CHANGE BY IFAD-VCDP FARMERS IN NORTH CENTRAL NIGERIA

Although a number of studies have been carried out on climate change but the levels of vulnerability of farmers and factors affecting vulnerability of the farmers to this topical issue have not been sufficiently determined in the study area, giving rise to this study. The study was conducted in Benue and Niger States involving 483 IFAD-VCDP farmers. A total of 500 questionnaires were distributed, however only 96.6% were completed and returned. As such the data analysis was based on 483 farmers under International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) – Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) from 10 participating Local Government of the two States. Both primary and secondary data were utilized for this study. The primary data were collected via questionnaire administered by trained enumerators, while the secondary data were collected from Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET). The data were analysed using descriptive statistics, vulnerability index and Beta regression model. The farmers were aware of eighteen climate change variables with assorted levels of occurrences. There was moderate vulnerable to climate change in the study area necessitating the need of enhanced awareness and capacity building to upgrade their home-grown adaptation strategies. Poverty status (3.0) was found to increase vulnerability while adaptive capacity (-23.8), age (-0.1), education (-0.7), gender (-2.8), distance to market (-0.1), livestock ownership (-0.4), social amenities (-1.9), total livelihood activities (-2.4) and membership of association (-3.8) decreased vulnerability by the percentages indicated in parenthesis. The study therefore recommended that the level of literacy among farm households and availability of social amenities should be critical issues when formulating climate adaptation policies and developmental issues. Government and NGOs should install processes that can enhance the adaptive capacity of the farmers