Determinants of farmers’ adoption of agroforestry technology in Ibarapa Area of Oyo State, Nigeria

This study examined the various forms of agroforestry technologies adopted by the farmers as well as assessed the factors influencing the adoption of agroforestry technologies among farmers in the study area. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select the respondents from the study area. Both descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages as well as inferential statistics such as Logistic Regression model were used in the study. From the study, it was discovered that adopters of agroforestry technology accounts for 42.47%, while non-adopters accounted for 57.53% of the sampled respondents. The result further shows the different forms of  agroforestry practices adopted by the farmers in the study area which includes boundary planting, multipurpose trees/shrubs, wind breaks and live fencing. The result of the analysis of the factors that influence the adoption of agroforestry technologies among farmers from the logistic regression analysis revealed that access to extension services, age, education, farming experience, farm size and gender were positive and significant factors in determining the adoption of agroforestry technologies among the farmers

Effects of wood harvesting on the livelihood of forest fringe communities in southwest Nigeria

This study was carried out to assess effects of wood harvesting on the livelihood of forest communities in Ibarapa region, southwest, Nigeria. The  study was conducted to identify the various livelihood activities engaged in by forest communities in the region; to assess how wood harvesting in the forests has affected the livelihood of the people in the region as well as to determine the factors influencing wood harvesting in the region. Three hundred copies of structured questionnaire were used to elicit information from the respondents. Focused Group Discussion and Key Informant Interview were also used. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression. Results show that various livelihood activities were engaged in by the respondents, prominent among which were food crop production, cash crop production, charcoal production, among others. Among the factors that were responsible for wood harvesting in the region, only age, occupation, household size and the distance of respondent’s house to the forest were significant at 5%. It was observed that excessive wood harvesting has negatively affected the forests in the study area as most of the forests have been greatly degraded. This study recommends that the activities of forest communities should be regulated by local authorities and governments, at different levels, in order to sustain the forests in the region. Key words: timber, charcoal, lumbering, regression, fuelwoo

Economic analysis of the effect of flood disaster on food security of arable farming households in Southern Guinea Savanna Zone, Nigeria

The study assessed the economic analysis of the effect of flood disaster on food security of arable farming households in southern guinea savanna  zone, Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique was used to select 120 farmers who experienced and didn’t experience flooding in Kwara and Niger States from whom data were collected with the aid of a structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, food security index and logistics regression model. This revealed that majority of the farming household heads in the study area were predominantly young people, who were still in their active age and had at least secondary education. Also, the food security result shows that majority of the farming households who experienced flood were not food secure. The regression result shows that the coefficients which were significant were years of schooling, household size, off farm income, household expenditure and flooding. The adaptation practices adopted against flooding by households includes seasonal migration, diversification of livelihood, terracing and early harvesting. The study recommends that climatic information especially the seasonal rainfall prediction annual reports be made available early enough to farmers in the flood plain areas to reduce the effect of food insecurity. Keywords: Flood, Food Security, Logistic Regression and Mitigat

Rural dwellers involvement in small scale poultry farming in Oluyole Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria

Poultry production at all levels appears to be lucrative and profitable but many factors appear to limit the involvement of rural dwellers in this sector. This study was carried out at Oluyole Local Government Area Oyo State to assess the level of involvement of rural dwellers in small scale poultry farming. Some parts of Oluyole local government were purposely selected for this study because of higher  concentration of rural dwellers that are involved in poultry production. A total of ninety five respondents were sampled and had a well-structured questionnaire administered to them to determine their socio economics characteristic, their level of involvement, benefit  derived and constraint faced in poultry farming. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics of frequency counts, percentage and  means, Chi-square and Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) at 0.05% level of significance. The results show that majority of the respondents were males (61.1%), married (68.8%) and have tertiary education (59.1%). Majority (50.5%) of the respondents were between the ages of 31-45years. Socio-economic characteristics such as age, region, sex, educational level, household size and income had no significant relationship with the respondent’s level of involvement in small scale poultry farming (P<0.05). Results on level of involvement shows that most (48.8%) of the sampled correspondents were involved in boilers production. The study also shows that the benefit derived in poultry farming remained the same regardless of the level of involvement of the farmers in various poultry activities, with r –value (0.177), p-value (0.089) indicating that the relationship is not significant (P<0.01), it also indicated that the relationship between the  constraints facing the respondents and their level of involvement is not significant with r –value (0.154). Also, the major constraints facing the respondents included difficulty in accessing loan and quality feed. Government should therefore make loan facilities at affordable interest rate while all the stake holders should work together to improve farmers’ access to quality feed, vaccine, technical know-how and adequate extension workers

Performance Evaluation of a Triple Layer Electric Sieving Machine (TLESM)

A multi-layer sieving machine is of multiplayer and highly efficient sieving machine that retains particles based on the difference in size. This study was carried out to evaluate the performance of a multi-layer electric sieving machine. The performance test of the machine was carried out in the Agricultural department farm of the Federal College of Forestry, Jericho Ibadan. The electrical sieving machine was used to carry out separation operations on a mixture of food crop materials at varying speeds. The machine passed the test of workability; it was able to perform the specific function of sieving and separating food materials of varying sizes. Mixed food materials were poured in the first layer of the mesh assembly and sieved. The time to completely separate the mixture into the three different layers was recorded and the respective weight of each layer was finally measured. Layer 1 had a mean weight gain of 0.42kg; layer 2 had a mean weight gain of 0.14 while layer 3 had a mean weight loss of 0.56kg when sieving was done for 5 minutes; at 7 minutes, Layer 1 had a mean weight gain of 0.1kg; layer 2 had a mean weight gain of 0.18 while layer 3 had a mean weight loss of 0.28kg, while at 10 minutes, the first layer had a mean weight gain of 0.06 kg, second layer also had mean weight gain of 0.02 while the third layer had a mean weight loss 0.08. The mean efficiency was highest at 99% in all the layers when sieving operation was carried out for 10 minutes and lowest at 96% for layer 3 when the machine ran for five (5) minutes. The effect of change in speed suggests that increment in sieving speed above 750rpm or below 300rpm gives a low efficiency

Perception of white meat consumption among urban households in Ibadan North Local Government of Oyo State

This study examines the consumer’s perception of white meat among household in Ibadan north local government area of Oyo state, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling was used through questionnaire to gather information from 110 respondents used as a sample size for the study. Data were analyzed through the use of descriptive statistics tools such as frequency and percentage, while inferential statistics such as chi-square and PPMC were used for the hypotheses. The result of the study revealed that majority (63.6%) of the respondents were married, also in their active age (93.2%) and engaged in trading and civil service work as their primary occupation. Also, majority (55.5%) had up to secondary education and tertiary school level with household size 1-5.The result further revealed that 52.4% of the respondents had unfavourable perception of white meat consumption while 47.6% had favourable perception. Also, better cholesterol content (53.6%) and reduced health risk (51.8%) were some of the perceived benefits of white meat considered by respondents. Constraints such as high cost of white meat (99%) and low income (88%) were considered as major constraints to white meat consumption. Chi-square analysis revealed that marital status(X2=18.693, P=0.028), education(X2=17.753, P=0.038) and primary occupation(X2=18.266, P=0.032) of respondents were found to have significant relationship with their perception of white meat consumption at 0.05 level. Also, PPMC analysis showed that there was relationship between perceived benefits and perception for white meat at 0.05 level of significant. The study, therefore, recommends that the enlightenment programmes on nutritional benefit of white meat consumption should be promoted for consumers to have right perception

Assessment of Timber Resource Exploitation in Shasha Forest Reserve, Osun State, Nigeria: Implication for Sustainable Forestry

Records on rate of timber exploitation are very essential for sustainable forestry. They help in managing the forest sustainably. Therefore, the study collected and analysed data on rate of timber exploitation in Shasha forest reserve in Osun state. Logs arranged and set to be taken out of the forest were identified and measured every Monday between December, 2017 and June, 2018 for twenty-eight (28) weeks. The species and families of logs encountered were identified. A total of 13,944 logs were assessed. Fifteen (15) families belonging to twenty-one (21) species of logs were identified. Result revealed that Sterculiaceae family with five species was the most exploited. Ricinodendron heudelotti has the highest number of exploited logs with overall frequency of 27.71%. Ricinodendron heudelotti had the highest basal area and volume with values of 18018776.71cm² and 113289.36cm³ respectively. The study concludes that the population of Ricinodendron heudelotii tree was high in Shasha forest which made it available for extraction at high rate. The study recommends strict monitoring and enforcement of sustainable forestry laws with regular inventory and up-to-date inventory of timber exploitation rate from the reserve

Poverty status of arable farm households in Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria

The study assessed the poverty status of arable farm households in Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo State. Ninety (90) respondents were randomly selected using the multistage sampling technique while data was collected using structured questionnaire. The data generated from the survey were analysed using descriptive statistics, poverty measures and a logistic regression model. The descriptive analysis shows that majority of the rural households were headed by males (76.67%), most of them (82.22%) were married and had a mean age of 54.5  years with 84.45% of them having a formal education. The mean household size of about 7 persons was obtained with a mean farm size of 6.66 hectares in the study area. The mean farming experience was 13.63 years, and the majority (86.67%) of the respondents did not receive any credit for their farming activities at a time or the other. The poverty status indicated that 54.44% of the respondents are poor while 45.56% are non-poor. The result of the factors influencing the poverty status using logistic regression analysis reveals that being married (p<0.05) and household size (p<0.1) were positive and significant predictors of the probability of being poor while access to credit (p<0.1) and per capita income (p<0.01) were negative and significant predictors of the probability of being poor. The study, therefore, recommended thatquality credit accessibility and participation in skills acquisition programmes through diversification should be encouraged due to their capability of improving the household income of the poor

Gillnet selectivity of Sarotherodon galilaeus of Asejire lake, Oyo state, Nigeria

Gillnet selectivity is a management tool that is used to regulate the mesh size used for exploitation of fisheries resources in aquatic ecosystems. This is done to prevent overfishing of various types. Gillnet selectivity of Sarotherodon galilaeus of Asejire Lake is estimated in this study. Three mesh sizes 50.8 mm, 63.5 mm and 76.2 mm were found used predominantly in Asejire Lake. These mesh sizes caught various sizes of fish within the range of 11–24 cm. The optimum lengths for mesh sizes 50.8 mm, 63.5 mm and 76.2 mm were 15.09 cm, 18.86 cm and 22.63 cm respectively. Therefore, 63.5 mm mesh size is recommended as the appropriate mesh size for exploitation of S. galilaeus of Asejire Lake.Key Words: Gillnet, selectivity, mesh sizes, overfishing, Sarotherodon galilaeus, Asejire Lak