Agricultural land use patterns and their relative gross margins in the north-west zone of Nigeria

This study aimed at providing information on the land use practices of farmers and the associated gross margins of different farm production systems in the North-West Zone (NWZ) of Nigeria. Two States in the NWZ were surveyed, namely, Kano and Katsina. Two Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) zones were purposively selected in each of the two States. In Kano State, Rano and Danbatta zones were selected, while in Katsina State, Funtua and Ajiwa zones were selected. The results of the survey showed that agricultural land was used by farmers for cropping purposes and extensive livestock activities. The cropland base was devoted to sole-and mixed cropping activities, with the latter predominating. Sorghum-based mixtures dominated in Rano zone, maize-based mixtures in Funtua zone and millet-based mixtures in Danbatta and Ajiwa zones. The results also indicated that gross margins computed on a per hectare basis were higher for two-crop production systems than sole-crop and three-crop enterprises in the study area. Global Journal of Social Sciences Vol. 6 (1) 2007: pp. 19-3

Production of Thermostable Alkaline Protease from Streptomyces sp-A54

Bacterial extracellular alkaline proteases have been found to have broad spectrum industrial applications because of their stability characteristics among the bacteria. The Actinomyces are of enormous importance as they can be recovered easier than other bacteria after fermentation. Thus, the study was aimed at sourcing for potential protease producers among the Actinomycetes species and determining the cultural conditions for their optimal protease yields. Among 67% of the recovered soil isolates that demonstrated potentials for protease production on skimmed milk agar, only Norcardia sp-A22, Micromonospora sp-A23, Streptosporangium A-52, and Streptomyces sp-A54 produced protease with higher activity(18.5-20.5mm) than the others (8.5-16.5mm). Preliminary protease assay in submerged shake-flask fermentation confirmed Streptomyces sp-A54 as the highest producer. Further studies on protease production by Streptomyces sp-A54 showed that maximum protease yield was achieved within 72h at 0.4% inoculum concentration. All the test organic carbon and nitrogen substrates supported protease yield (> 1.5/2.0 u/ml) but soybean and sweet potato meal gave the highest support (> 2.5/2.53 u/ml). However, their protease yields were significantly (p< 0.05) less than that of refined glucose and peptone when substituted as the carbon and nitrogen sources. The produced crude enzyme demonstrated optimal activity at pH 8.0 and temperature of 500C. Therefore, the ability of Streptomyces sp-A54 to produce thermostable protease at a relatively low concentration indicated its potential as a good source for industrial applications.Keywords-Streptomyces-spA54,Protease-Fermentation, Optimization, Cultural Condition

Determinants of Capital Structure of Listed Agro Firms in Nigeria. Economic Affairs: A Quarterly

Abstract This paper examines the determinants of capital structure of agro-listed firms in Nigeria, using data generated from the financial statements of twenty eight (28) agro-allied firms, which have been listed in the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) from 2005 to 2010. The major tool for data analysis was Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), which was used to analyze the identified firm-specific variables that affect short and long term debt ratios. All measured capital structure were scaled by the book value of total assets. In terms of short term debt ratio, large firms were perceived to have enough tangible assets at their disposal to pledge as collateral and access debt capital. Highly tangible firms also use more short-term debts, as high tangible asset reduced the magnitude of debt loss incurred by debt providers if the firms default. Growing listed firms used more short term debts, presumably due to their huge capital requirement for financing new short term investment opportunities and the need to meet current liabilities and other overhead expenses. Growing firms are presumed to lack both tangible assets and cheap long term credit sources of information and as such depends mostly on short term debts. The result further shows agro-listed firms with high taxes use more short term debts in their finances. Highly profitable firms do not depend on short-term debts, as they are perceived to be liquid enough to finance their short term investment through retained earnings at the expense of taking short term debts. In terms of long term debt ratio, highly profitable firms use less long term debts, implying that they have enough internally generated funds for their financing needs at the expense of borrowing. Large sized firms depend on long term debt for their finances because of high tangible assets at their disposal as collaterals. Firm age was positively related to long term debt ratio. The estimated growth coefficient was positively and significant, implying that growing firms use more long term debts. Finally, asset structure was found to be positively related to long-term debt ratio. Firms with high tangible assets are perceived to use more long term debts. It is recommended among others that appropriate protectionist policy be put in place for agro-based listed firms seeking short-term financing