Irish-Potato Farming in Plateau State, Nigeria: A Profitability Analysis

Notable efforts are on-going to improve Irish potato production in Plateau State, the major producer of the crop in Nigeria. However, little attention has been given to the profitability of the enterprise while the determinants of profitability level are scanty in the literature. Thus, paper analyses the profitability of Irish-potato farming using primary data from 252 Irish potato farmers in Plateau State, Nigeria. Cost structure and profitability level of Irish potato farming were investigated using farm budgeting technique while probit regression model was used to examine the determinants of profitability level of Irish potato farms. Irish potato farming was found to be profitable with most (53.97%) farmers at high profitability level. The net farm income was ₦604, 245.81 per hectare with returns per naira spent of ₦1.70. The cost structure showed that costs of seeds, labour and fertilizer made up the largest share of the total cost of production per hectare. The probability that a farm will be at high profitability level was determined by agrochemicals, sex, farm size and labour at 1% level, respectively. It was concluded that increasing agrochemicals, reducing farm size and labour and being a male farmer will improve profitability level of Irish potato farms. This study recommended that increased use of agrochemicals and more efficient use of labour and farm land be encouraged among potato farmers increase their profitability level

Computerised tomographic patterns in patients with head injury at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital

Background: Head injuries rank high among morbidities due to trauma. Computerised tomography is an important modality in the investigation of these cases. However, literature on this subject in the south.south geopolitical zone of Nigeria is sparse. This study therefore aimed to document the computerized tomographic features of patients with head injury managed at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH).Materials and Methods: A prospective study involving patients with head injury referred for CT scan from the Accident and Emergency Unit of UBTH over a 12.month period. A total of 100 patients were studied, using non.enhanced cranial CT scans. Findings were recorded and data analysis using SPSS done.Results: The age group 21.30 years was most frequently involved. Sex preponderance was 4.3:1 (male: female). Twenty.six patients had normal CT scans. The most common abnormal finding was intracerebral hemorrhage 35 cases (33%). This was followed by skull fractures, 23 cases (31%); subdural hemorrhage, 16 cases (21%); cerebral edema, 11 cases (15%). Others included mass effect, nine cases (12%).Conclusion: CT plays a very significant role in management of head injuries, as demonstrated in this study, by making such diagnoses that guided eventual patient management. Intracerebral hemorrhage was the most common abnormal finding in this report. Regular use of CT in moderate to severe cases of head injury is advocated.Key words: Benin City, computerized tomography, head injur

Synthesis, characterization and corrosion inhibition efficiency of 2-(6-methylpyridin-2-yl)-1H-imidazo[4,5-f][1,10] phenanthroline on mild steel in sulphuric acid

AbstractPhenanthroline derivative, 2-(6-methylpyridin-2-yl)-1H-imidazo[4,5-f][1,10] phenanthroline (MIP) was synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and single crystal X-ray diffraction study. MIP was evaluated as corrosion inhibitor for mild steel in 0.5M H2SO4 solution using gravimetric and UV–Visible spectrophotometric methods at 303–333K. Results obtained show that MIP acts as inhibitor for mild steel in H2SO4 solution. The inhibition efficiency was found to increase with increase in MIP concentration but decreased with temperature. Activation parameters and Gibbs free energy for the adsorption process using statistical physics were calculated and discussed. The UV–Visible absorption spectra of the solution containing the inhibitor after the immersion of mild steel specimen indicate the formation of a MIP-Fe complex

Climate Change Adaptive Livelihood Diversification Strategies and Food Security of Crop Farming Households in Rural Oyo State, Nigeria

Climate change has reduced farm output, food availability and food security (FS) among crop farming households (CFHHs) in Nigeria. Diversifying livelihood activities to cope with climate change may improve FS, although, literature is limited on the relationship between climate change adaptive livelihoods (CCAL) and food security. Hence, CCAL of crop farming households in rural Oyo state, Nigeria and its effects on their FS were assessed. Primary data was collected through a multi-stage sampling technique, using semi-structured questionnaire, from 260 CFHHs. Descriptive statistics, principal component analysis, Herfindahl–Simpson diversification index, Foster-Greer-Thorbecke FS measure, Tobit and logit regression models were used for data analysis. Results show that most CFHH heads were male (83%) and married (75.4%). Mean age was 58 years, while household size was five members. Majority (57.7%) of CFHH heads had a high perception of climate change, but did not diversify their livelihoods (58.1%), while the mean diversification index was 0.42. Most common CCAL was soil testing (16.5%), followed by agro-marketing (7.7%).  Formal education, primary occupation as trading and artisan, and access to credit significantly influenced the extent of CCAL undertaken by the CFHHs. Food security line was ₦1186.153 and 50.4% of the CFHHs were food insecure. Diversifying into CCAL, being a male-headed household, having formal education, being married, trading as a secondary occupation and change-in-income after diversification improved food security. Hence, climate change adaptive livelihoods should be encouraged among crop farming households to improve food security

Effect of Rice Trade Policy on Household Welfare in Nigeria

Inconsistence in the use of trade policy reform has characterized Nigeria’s rice imports over the years and little is known about the welfare implications of these reforms on the Nigerian households. This study uses a static computable general equilibrium model to assess the effect of rice trade policies of an import ban, 80% tariff increase, 5% tariff reduction and 0% rice import tariff on the welfare of households in the country. Simulation results show that no rice trade policy improved social welfare, although producing households’ incomes increased under protectionist policies of ban and tariff increase. All households lost welfare with 0% tariff while only the major producing and consuming households lost welfare with the 5% reduction in tariffs. The least loss to social welfare also occurred in this scenario, hence this policy was recommended for adoption in order to minimize welfare losses to households. Keywords: Rice; trade policy; tariff; households; welfare; computable general equilibrium

Genetically Modified Crops’ Technology and its Awareness among Smallholder Farmers in Nigeria

Genetically Modified (GM) crops are crops modified through genetic engineering to improve their quality. Although safety concerns about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are still being debated, the food security benefits have led to adoption by many counties. In Nigeria, where most farmers are uneducated and likely unaware of the agricultural technology, the government approved its first biotechnology crop for commercialization in 2018. Level of farmers’ awareness is crucial to acceptance of GM crops, although; this has not been fully explored in the literature. Therefore, this study aimed to assess farmers’ awareness for GM crops and the factors that determine their awareness in Oyo state, Nigeria, using primary data collected in 2018 with the aid of well-structured questionnaires from 242 smallholder farmers. Principal component analysis and Tobit regression model were used for data analysis. Results showed that farmers were aged 43 years with farm size of 3.57 ha, farming experience of 14 years and 11 years of education. Most farmers were male (71.90%), married (67.36%), not members of farmer groups (64.46%) and sourced their seeds from non-credible sources (85.12%). Most farmers (52.07%) had either not heard of or did not know of any benefits/costs of GM crops, hence; were not aware of GM crops. Factors that influenced awareness of GM crops were being a male farmer, years of education and source of seeds. The study concluded that increasing years of education and ensuring use of credible seed sources will increase awareness of the costs and benefits of GM crops among farmers

Government Policy, Agricultural Output and National Saving in Nigeria

The study examined the role government policy and agricultural output play in national saving in Nigeria, time series data on national savings, agricultural GDP, government policy–related variables as well as other relevant socio-demographic variables were sourced for the period of 1981 – 2012 and analyzed. The Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test for stationarity, the trace and maximum Eigen statistics for cointegrating vectors as well as the cointegration regression were used at various stages for the analysis. It was found that government’s recurrent expenditure, money supply and population all positively affect national saving. On the other hand, debt servicing by the government, unemployment rate and importation of goods all showed negative relationships with national saving. It was thus recommended that government recurrent expenditure which empowers the populace economically should be given priority during national budget implementation, that unnecessary contraction of money supply should be avoided within reasonable inflation limits, that unrestrained borrowing as well as corruption, which prevents funds borrowed by the government from achieving their objectives thus making servicing of loans burdensome to the economy, be checked. Furthermore, it was recommended that local production of goods and services be supported to prevent excessive importation and the attendant devaluation of the Naira. Finally, it was recommended that employment generation through government expenditure which stimulates local production by the empowerment of the youth and the promotion of infant industries must be prioritized so that the Country’s teeming population can be converted into a work force that will be a driver of economic growth. Key words: government policy, agricultural output, national saving, time serie

Trade Openness and Inflation in Nigerian Economy: A Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) Approach

Trade between countries of the world is a vital economic index to be considered. Opening up the economy of a country will not only improve the trade of such a country, but will also affect its inflation rate, which is an important factor for policy decision makers. This study therefore used the VECM approach to investigate the effect of trade openness on the inflation of the Nigerian economy using annual data from 1970 to 2010. A multivariate cointegration test developed by Johansen was used to determine the existence of a long-run relationship among the variables. The results indicate two cointegrating equations at 5% level of significance and one cointegrating equation at 1% level. With the existence of at least one cointegrating vector, the VEC model was applied, which indicates a negative relationship between inflation and trade openness (-1.58) for the Nigerian economy, while the coefficient of the Error Correction Term (-0.91) of the model was significant and negative, which imply that the system corrects its previous period disequilibrium at a speed of approximately 91 percent annually. The results of the Impulse-Response Function (IRF) indicate that the response of inflation to openness shock was significant and positive for only two periods, but negative after the second period and all through the rest of the periods, thereby validating the negative relationship between inflation and trade openness in Nigerian economy. Keywords: Trade openness, inflation, VECM, Error Correction Term, Impulse-response function, Nigerian

The vulnerability of rice value chains in sub-Saharan Africa: a review

Rice is one of the most important food crops in sub-Saharan Africa. Climate change, variability, and economic globalization threatens to disrupt rice value chains across the subcontinent, undermining their important role in economic development, food security, and poverty reduction. This paper maps existing research on the vulnerability of rice value chains, synthesizes the evidence and the risks posed by climate change and economic globalization, and discusses agriculture and rural development policies and their relevance for the vulnerability of rice value chains in sub-Saharan Africa. Important avenues for future research are identified. These include the impacts of multiple, simultaneous pressures on rice value chains, the effects of climate change and variability on parts of the value chain other than production, and the forms and extent to which different development policies hinder or enhance the resilience of rice value chains in the face of climatic and other pressures

Phytochemical and Antimicrobial Properties of Leaves of Alchonea Cordifolia

The phytochemistry of Achornea cordifolia leaf extract using different solvents was studied using standard methods. The effects of the leaf extract on some pathogenic bacteria and fungi were also examined. The Phytochemical screening of the leaves shows the presence of useful ethno-botanical bioactive substances such as tannin, saponin, flavonoid, cardiac glycoside and anthraquinone, while alkaloid, phlobatanin and terpene also tested for were absent. The butanol fraction of the extract gives the highest zone of inhibition (13.0 mm) against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and pseudomonas aeruginosa, which are in parity. The control, gentamycin injection gives 12.5 mm, 11.0 mm and 12.0 mm respective zones of inhibition against the Staphylococcus aureus, Eschariclia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Also, the butanol fraction of the extract shows highest zone of inhibition of 17.0 mm against Candida albican, while ethanolic extract gives 13.0 mm zone of inhibition against Trichophyton violaceum