Attitude of agricultural professionals towards their wards taking agriculture as a career in Kwara State, North Central Nigeria

The paper examines the attitude of agricultural professionals towards their children or people under their care taking agriculture and agricultural extension as a career in Kwara State, Nigeria. A structured questionnaire was used to elicit information from one hundred and eighty respondents. The findings revealed that the mean age of the agricultural professionals was 39 years. Majority (76.1%) were males, married (86.1%) with about an average of 5 wards each under their custody. Majority of the professionals were observed to have a negative and unfavourable attitude towards their wards taking agriculture as a career. Logistical regression modelling of determinants of agricultural professionals’ attitudes towards their wards taking agriculture as a career revealed that characteristics of professionals that were more likely to have a positive attitude towards their wards taking agriculture as a career include high numbers of wards, higher educational qualification and more years of experience in the agricultural profession. The study recommends an urgent need for agricultural professionals to rise up to the task of ensuring increased participation of youths especially beginning with their wards in taking up a career in agriculture and agricultural extension.Keywords: Agricultural Professionals, attitude, career, agricultural extensio

Climate Change and Potential Environmental Hazards with Perspective Adaptation Technologies in Nigeria, A review

Abstract. Climate change is a global phenomenon with multifarious unique regional consequences. Contemporary studies have established Climate change as a product of anthropogenic activities. Studies have linked extreme weather events, heat waves, increase pollution, crop failure as some of the many discernable effects of climate change. Hence, the spatial temporal effects of Climate change are of concern to policy makers, researchers, innovators and the entire public to develop veritable mitigation strategies. This paper examines climate change in Nigeria as a case study; the research adopted desk research method to collect secondary data from literature about hazards caused by climate change and potential adaptation strategies in Nigeria. The findings revealed that a potential environmental hazard caused by climate change in Nigeria includes that of biological, chemical, physical, mechanical and psycho-social. Moreover, this review further showed adaptation technologies that can be used in adapting and mitigating climate change in Nigeria

Socio-demographic Context of Resilience for Adaptation to Climate Change and Implication for Agricultural Extension in Buffelspruit, South Africa

The study examined the socio-demographic characteristics of smallholder farmers’ and resilience strategies for adaptation to climate change in Buffelspruit, South Africa. The objectives of the study were to determine local resilience strategies used by farmers and examine adoption behaviour in the use of local resilience strategies for mitigating climate change. The study was conducted in Buffelspruit community. A total number of 306 participants were selected randomly for this study. Structured and semi-structured questionnaires were used for data collection. The adoption behaviour of the farmers in the use of local resilience strategies was analysed using the logit model. Crop rotation, crop diversification and the adjustment of planting dates were the resilience strategies used by farmers. The result from the logit analysis reveals that gender (p = 0.047), level of education (p = 0.16), employment (p = 0.043), farm skills (p = 0.058), extension services (p = 0.011) and farm size (p = 0.022) influenced the adoption of climate resilient strategies in the study area. Extension education must move beyond technical training to enhance farmers’ abilities for planning, problem solving, critical thinking and leadership skills to work with multiple stakeholders. Extension must be proactive with capacity development in climate change education.

Social media utilization level among South African smallholder farmers: a case study of Mopani District, Limpopo Province

AbstractThis study assessed the use of social media among smallholder farmers using the Mopani district, Limpopo, in South Africa, as a case study. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain information from 383 randomly sampled smallholder farmers in the study area. Data were analyzed with SPSS version 28 and STATA version 14 using descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression analysis. The findings revealed that most farmers had positive perceptions of the benefits and ease of using social media platforms. However, the usage of social media platforms is still low, especially for agricultural purposes, as most farmers are yet to leverage the potential benefits of using social media for marketing, advertising and facilitating linkages with extension agents and other agricultural institutions. The multiple linear regression model revealed that farmers’ age, educational qualification, frequency of visits to other locations, perceived benefit index, constraint index and secondary occupation were significant factors influencing the usage of social media in the study area. The study recommends that the government should facilitate social media platforms’ cost subsidization policies to promote inclusive technology for smallholder farmers. In addition, extension organizations and other rural advisory service stakeholders should package capacity-building programs to educate farmers on maximizing the benefits of social media platforms for agricultural purposes. This will greatly improve their access to vital and timely information, resources, and linkage with extension agencies, and expand opportunities for marketing their farm produce to more profitable outlets beyond the farm gate

Perception of poultry farmers on duck farming in Kwara State, Nigeria

The study assessed the perception of poultry farmers on duck farming in Kwara state, Nigeria. A random sampling technique was employed in selecting 80 poultry farmers used in the study. Analytical tools used include frequency counts, charts, mean, percentage and Pearson Product moment correlation. Results showed that the mean age of the respondents was 41.3 years with majority of the respondents (71.3%) were male while 28.8% were females. About 70% were married. Findings further showed that about 42% of the respondents were aware of duck farming, 23.9% of the respondents were aware of duck farming through Radio/TV. Furthermore, some of the perceived benefits of duck farming by poultry farmers were ducks have less mortality (̅=2.69), duck meat is tastier than broiler (̅ = 2.6) and ducks are less expensive (̅ = 2.53). The major constraints to duck farming in study area were lack of information and awareness about duck farming (1.794±0.503) and religious factors (1.575±0.521). Results of correlation analysis revealed that none of the socio economic characteristics tested were significant with the perceived knowledge of the respondents on the advantages of duck farming (p<0.05). It was concluded that the perception of poultry farmers to duck farming in study area was positive but were constrained by lack of information and awareness about duck farming (1.794±0.503) and religious factors (1.575±0.521). This is therefore a challenge for extension service delivery and as such poultry farmers and the general public, considering the nutritional, economic and other benefits of ducks, be given adequate innovative information on duck rearing.Keywords: Perception, Poultry, farmers, Duck farming, Kwara Stat

CAPACITY BUILDING NEEDS OF POULTRY FARMERS FOR QUAIL PRODUCTION IN KWARA STATE, NIGERIA

This paper investigated the capacity building needs of poultry farmers for quail production in Kwara State, Nigeria. A questionnaire was used to elicit information from 80 randomly sampled poultry farmers from the Poultry Association of Nigeria, Kwara State Chapter. The findings revealed that the majority (70.0%) of the poultry farmers were male with a mean age of 44 years, married (75.0%) and formally educated (98.75%). The poultry farmers were mostly (78.75%) small-scale producers rearing less than or equal to 500 birds on their farms. Capacity building was highly needed for quail husbandry and management practices, feeding and nutrition, housing and equipment, processing and marketing of products, among others. Seven challenges were identified by the poultry farmers as severe challenges militating against the diversification of their poultry enterprise to include quail production. Chi-square analysis revealed a significant relationship between the poultry farmers’ capacity building needs for quail production and their age (X2 = 5.545), educational level (X2 = 11.859) and years of farming experience (X2 = 9.604). It was recommended that extension agencies should package a robust training programme for poultry farmers on the areas of capacity deficiencies indicated for quail production. Key words: capacity building needs, poultry farmers, quail production, Kwara State, Nigeria