Taungya Farming -a Strategy for Sustainable Land Management and Agricultural Development in Nigeria

In Nigeria, land degradation in the form of erosion oriented, soil physical property deterioration, vegetation degradation and hydrological changes are remotely caused by man's inefficient usage of land and its resources. Other causes are inadequate on-farm conservation and shortened bush fallow with inadequate supply of farmyard manure. The consequences of the inefficient land usage are decrease in land productivity and production and the inability of the agricultural sector to produce adequate food to feed the ever growing population. To avert the dire consequences of land degradation, some sustainable land management practices (such as taungya farming) which allow the production of increased agricultural and forest products simultaneously on the same unit of land are being canvassed. Taungya farming is a system of raising forest plantation along with crop husbandry in which the clearing of the site, planting and tendering of the trees are done wholly or in part by the farmers in exchange for the privilege of growing their annual crops on government reserved forests. Taungya farming ensures more land availability to landless farmers, increased food crop production, increased income to farmers, increased production of exotic and indigenous forest species, productive and integrated use of land, it provides an efficient low input biological recycling to substitute the expensive inputs and it increases the productivity of small holder farmers. This paper looked at the profitability, productivity and technical efficiency of Taungya farming in Nigeria for its policy implications. Data obtained from 100 farmers that were selected using multistage sampling technique were analyzed using descriptive statistics, gross margin and the stochastic frontier production function. The study revealed that Taungya farming was profitable. Ageing and farmers with low level educational level were involved. The farmers were relatively technically efficient (TE) with about 85 percent of them having TE above the mean TE of 0.912 for the study area. The study observed that educational level of the farmers, location of farms and technical assistance in form of extension visits led to increase in TE. The TE of the farmers would improve if more land is made available for at locations under government control and thus Taungya farming would be a driving force in ensuring a sustainable land resources management with increased productivity in Nigeria

STRUCTURAL PERFORMANCE OF ARTISANAL FISH MARKETING IN ONDO STATE, NIGERIA.pdf

Fish is an important source of protein which is highly needed for human beings to experience necessary growth and development. This is the reason for the phenomenal rise in the consumption of fish in order to meet up with the body nutritional requirements. Therefore, marketing of this source of protein is inevitable as its distribution depends largely on the structure of the marketing system. This study examined the structural performance of artisanal fish marketing in Ondo State, Nigeria. Data collected from 250 artisanal fish sellers selected using multistage sampling technique were analysed using descriptive statistics, marketing and gross margin, Gini coefficient and Lorenze curve analyses. The results showed that artisanal fish marketing was profitable with a mean net return of N137.10/kg ($0.85/kg). The estimated value of the Gini coefficient determined was 0.64, indicating the presence of inequality in the share of the artisanal fish market in the study area. It was realized that all the respondents in the study area, mentioned poor transport network, high transport cost, inadequate fund and inadequate storage facilities as major problems confronting artisanal fish market in the study area. Therefore, programmes that will improve fish marketing should be organized for fish marketers by the relevant government parastatals, extension workers, Non Governmental Organizations and the artisanal fish marketers should be sensitized on the formation of better organized fish marketing cooperative societies where they can solve some of their problems themselves

Structural Performance of Artisanal Fish Marketing in Ondo State, Nigeria

Fish is an important source of protein which is highly needed for human beings to experience necessary growth and development. This is the reason for the phenomenal rise in the consumption of fish in order to meet up with the body nutritional requirements. Therefore, marketing of this source of protein is inevitable as its distribution depends largely on the structure of the marketing system. This study examined the structural performance of artisanal fish marketing in Ondo State, Nigeria. Data collected from 250 artisanal fish sellers selected using multistage sampling technique were analysed using descriptive statistics, marketing and gross margin, Gini coefficient and Lorenze curve analyses. The results showed that artisanal fish marketing was profitable with a mean net return of N137.10/kg ($0.85/kg). The estimated value of the Gini coefficient determined was 0.64, indicating the presence of inequality in the share of the artisanal fish market in the study area. It was realized that all the respondents in the study area, mentioned poor transport network, high transport cost, inadequate fund and inadequate storage facilities as major problems confronting artisanal fish market in the study area. Therefore, programmes that will improve fish marketing should be organized for fish marketers by the relevant government parastatals, extension workers, Non Governmental Organizations and the artisanal fish marketers should be sensitized on the formation of better organized fish marketing cooperative societies where they can solve some of their problems themselves

STRUCTURAL PERFORMANCE OF ARTISANAL FISH MARKETING IN ONDO STATE, NIGERIA POWER POINT PRESENTATION.pdf

Fish is an important source of protein which is highly needed for human beings to experience necessary growth and development. This is the reason for the phenomenal rise in the consumption of fish in order to meet up with the body nutritional requirements. Therefore, marketing of this source of protein is inevitable as its distribution depends largely on the structure of the marketing system. This study examined the structural performance of artisanal fish marketing in Ondo State, Nigeria. Data collected from 250 artisanal fish sellers selected using multistage sampling technique were analysed using descriptive statistics, marketing and gross margin, Gini coefficient and Lorenze curve analyses. The results showed that artisanal fish marketing was profitable with a mean net return of N137.10/kg ($0.85/kg). The estimated value of the Gini coefficient determined was 0.64, indicating the presence of inequality in the share of the artisanal fish market in the study area. It was realized that all the respondents in the study area, mentioned poor transport network, high transport cost, inadequate fund and inadequate storage facilities as major problems confronting artisanal fish market in the study area. Therefore, programmes that will improve fish marketing should be organized for fish marketers by the relevant government parastatals, extension workers, Non Governmental Organizations and the artisanal fish marketers should be sensitized on the formation of better organized fish marketing cooperative societies where they can solve some of their problems themselves

Empowering Youths To Fight Unemployment And Poverty Through Efficient Fish Farming Strategy In Nigeria

Most efforts of Nigerian governments to fight unemployment and poverty among the educated youths have not succeeded because most agricultural programmes initiated by past governments did not go down well with the youths due to drudgery, large capital outlay and low returns to resources associated with food crop and livestock production. But recently, some governments are empowering unemployed educated youths to go into fish farming for employment and income generation strategy, because fish farming is less tedious and requires less resources outlay and has high returns to resources used in its production. This paper examined how efficient fish farming can solve unemployment and poverty problems among educated youths in Nigeria. The data for the study were collected from 100 educated fish farmers selected using multistage sampling technique and were analysed using the profitability and stochastic frontier production and cost functions analyses. Results showed that fish farming was profitable and has less drudgery. The returns to labour and capital were high. The productivity analysis showed that allocation and utilization of resources in fish farming were in the economic efficient stage. The efficiency showed a significant level of inefficiency effects indicating more improvement could still be made in fish farming operations. Therefore efforts made to empower young school leavers go into fish farming would solve unemployment and poverty problems among educated youths and also alleviate nutritional deficiencies among the citizenry

Efficiency Analysis Among Maize and Cassava Farmers in Southwest, Nigeria: Application of Log Input Mean Correction Strategy

This study applied log input mean correction strategy and imposed linear homogeneity restriction in the estimation of efficiency among maize and cassava farmers in Southwest, Nigeria. Multistage sampling procedure was used to select 310 respondents for the study. Data collected through well-structured questionnaire were analysed using Descriptive Statistics, Stochastic Frontier Translog Cost and Production Function. The results show direct relationships between the total cost of production with respect to maize output and input prices in the two enterprises. The input price elasticity estimates in the two enterprises support the assumption that the cost function is homogenous of degree one and that the cost minimizing factor prices is non-decreasing in P. Also, regularity condition of monotonicity is fulfilled as inputs increase output in the two enterprises. Therefore, maize and cassava farmers should be encouraged to expand their scale of operation which also allows them to benefit from economies of scale.Keywords: Efficiency, homogeneity, stochastic, crop, log-input