Challenges of Small Ruminants Production in Selected Urban Communities of Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria

Livestock production has become a common trend in urban communities whereby a number of people reared farm animals such as sheep and goats for social and economic reasons. Notwithstanding the associated advantages of livestock production, effective urban production of the small ruminants is greatly challenged by a number of factors. Based on this, the study was conducted with a view to identifying factors that challenged effective sheep and goat production in selected urban communities of Abeokuta, Ogun State. From the selected 12 urban communities where sheep and goats were reared, a total of 217 rearers were non-randomly selected using snow balling sampling method. A reliable and validated interview guide was used alongside field observation to obtain information on challenges to sheep and goats production in the urban areas. The results showed that the challenges were feed, health/disease, environmental, marketing and routine management related. All the respondents (100%) experienced challenges such as high cost of feeding, theft of the farm animals, problem of off -season feeding and problem of sourcing feed variety for the animals. The chi-square test showed that a significant relationship exists between the respondents’ socioeconomic characteristics (sex: χ2 = 21.06, df =4; age: χ2 = 43.26, df = 16; education: χ2 = 78.09, df = 12; occupation: χ2 = 62.57, df = 16; income: χ2 = 56.35, df =16) and the encountered challenges (p < 0.05). Based on this, it was concluded that the identified challenges to urban sheep and goat production remained serious issues in the study area. It was thus recommended that conscious efforts should be put up by rearers of the small ruminants to ensure safety of their animals and good feeding routine for increased productivity and beneficial returns

Pasture Production and Grazing System in ASSIST Project: Outcome and Replication Viability in Nigeria for Sustainable Ruminant Production

As important as pasture is to productive management of cattle, sheep and goats, intensive development of grassland for ruminant animals is rare in Nigeria largely due to no conscious effort at pasture cultivation in the country. Consequently, nomadic and free grazing systems remain a practice in the country, with resultant poor animal productivity and agro-related conflicts between ruminant keepers and crop farmers and/or agro-processors. The need to revert this situation underscored the exploration of the potential value of the innovative pasture production and grazing management system tested under the Achieving Sustainable Agricultural Systems (ASSIST) programmme in Rothamsted Research, United Kingdom, for application in Nigeria. The project, which cultivated swards of different species such as permanent pasture, grass mix (“soft fibre” cultivars) and multispecies swards, was managed as continuous stocking orcell-rotational grazing systems under drained and undrained soil conditions. Conscientious management and weekly monitoring of the pasture, using calibrated plate-meter, not only made it possible to ensure adequate herbage availability to the reared ruminants but also enhanced productive performance of the farm animals. Although, the common types of swards in Nigeria differ from that of ASSIST project, a modified application of the paddock development model could enhance quality paddock development in the country for sustainable grazing and productive ruminant management

Pasture Production and Grazing System in ASSIST Project: Outcome and Replication Viability in Nigeria for Sustainable Ruminant Production

As important as pasture is to productive management of cattle, sheep and goats, intensive development of grassland for ruminant animals is rare in Nigeria largely due to no conscious effort at pasture cultivation in the country. Consequently, nomadic and free grazing systems remain a practice in the country, with resultant poor animal productivity and agro-related conflicts between ruminant keepers and crop farmers and/or agro-processors. The need to revert this situation underscored the exploration of the potential value of the innovative pasture production and grazing management system tested under the Achieving Sustainable Agricultural Systems (ASSIST) programmme in Rothamsted Research, United Kingdom, for application in Nigeria. The project, which cultivated swards of different species such as permanent pasture, grass mix (“soft fibre” cultivars) and multispecies swards, was managed as continuous stocking orcell-rotational grazing systems under drained and undrained soil conditions. Conscientious management and weekly monitoring of the pasture, using calibrated plate-meter, not only made it possible to ensure adequate herbage availability to the reared ruminants but also enhanced productive performance of the farm animals. Although, the common types of swards in Nigeria differ from that of ASSIST project, a modified application of the paddock development model could enhance quality paddock development in the country for sustainable grazing and productive ruminant management

Geoprzestrzenne i społeczno-ekonomiczne czynniki ograniczające mechanizację rolnictwa w stanie Ogun w Nigerii

The objective of this study was to ascertain the socioeconomic and geospatial traits responsible for little or no usage of tractors for land clearing and cultivation by rural farmers in Ogun State, Nigeria. Data were obtained on the study objectives with use of interview guide, in-depth discussion and field observation a randomly selected 247 arable crop farmers. The obtained data were subjected to frequency count and binominal analysis of variance. Results showed factors such as farmers’ inability to afford tractor acquisition and/or hire tractors services (prop = 1.00, p < 0.05) as the major economic traits encumbering tractor usage for land preparation. The social traits included inadequate available of tractors to serve the farmers (prop = 0.76, p < 0.05), and farmers’ apprehension of possible destruction of soil structure and/or farm land (prop = 0.64, p < 0.05) as a result of tractor usage for land preparation. The geospatial traits were stump/tree distribution (prop = 0.97, p < 0.05) and land fragmentation (prop = 0.92, p < 0.05). It was thus concluded that both socioeconomic and farm geospatial traits interactively encumbered farm tractorisation in the study area. It was recommended that farmers should be supported technically and financially by stakeholders in agro-development so as to enable them to afford tractor usage for land cultivation.Celem badań było ustalenie społeczno-ekonomicznych i geoprzestrzennych powodów niewielkiego bądź zerowego wykorzystania ciągników w pracach polowych w stanie Ogun w Nigerii. Dane do badań pozyskiwano metodą wywiadu, dyskusji i obserwacji w terenie u losowo wybranych 247 rolników uprawiających ziemie orne. Uzyskane dane poddano obliczeniom częstości i analizie wariancji. Wyniki wskazują na niemożność nabycia ciągnika lub wynajęcia usług z użyciem ciągnika (prop = 1,00, p < 0,05) jako główną ekonomiczną przyczynę ograniczającą mechanizację prac polowych. Powody społeczne obejmowały niedostępność ciągników do obsługi rolnictwa (prop = 0,76, p < 0,05) oraz obawę rolników przed możliwym zniszczeniem struktury gleby (prop = 0,64, p < 0,05) w wyniku stosowania ciągników do pracy w polu. Do przyczyn geoprzestrzennych zaliczono rozmieszczenie pni/drzew (prop = 0,97, p < 0,05) i fragmentację pól uprawnych (prop = 0,92, p < 0,05). We wnioskach stwierdzono, że czynniki społeczno-ekonomiczne i przestrzenne, działając łącznie, ograniczają mechanizację prac polowych na badanym obszarze. Zaleca się wsparcie techniczne i finansowe rolników przez interesariuszy sektora rolniczego, aby umożliwić im wykorzystanie ciągników w uprawie ziemi

Capability of Poultry Farmers Association for Extension Services Delivery in Oyo State, Nigeria

The study investigated the capability of Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) for extension service delivery to poultry farmers in Oyo state. The respondents were predominantly registered poultry farmers in Oyo state PAN. Questionnaires were administered to 118 registered poultry farmers with PAN. Data were analyzed using percentage, frequency and chi-square at P=0.05. Results revealed that most of the respondents were male (64.4%), within the age bracket of 41-50 years, mostly married (61.9%), and had attained tertiary education. The majority accessed information on poultry management techniques and marketing during in-house training (34.7%), farm visits (44.9%) and workshop (55.1%) sponsored by PAN. It concluded that the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) Oyo state, chapter has the optimum human and material resources for extension services delivery to its members. The number of trainings and farm visits organized by the association could be improved upon if PAN accesses other sources of funding.Key Words: Poultry farmers’ association; Extension services delivery