Preparation and use of plant medicines for farmers' health in Southwest Nigeria: socio-cultural, magico-religious and economic aspects

Agrarian rural dwellers in Nigeria produce about 95% of locally grown food commodities. The low accessibility to and affordability of orthodox medicine by rural dwellers and their need to keep healthy to be economically productive, have led to their dependence on traditional medicine. This paper posits an increasing acceptance of traditional medicine country-wide and advanced reasons for this trend. The fact that traditional medicine practitioners' concept of disease is on a wider plane vis-à-vis orthodox medicine practitioners' has culminated in some socio-cultural and magico-religious practices observed in preparation and use of plant medicines for farmers' health management. Possible scientific reasons were advanced for some of these practices to show the nexus between traditional medicine and orthodox medicine. The paper concludes that the psychological aspect of traditional medicine are reflected in its socio-cultural and magico-religious practices and suggests that government should fund research into traditional medicine to identify components of it that can be integrated into the national health system

Poverty analysis at two levels of gari marketing in Ibadan metropolis

Socio-economic characteristics and extent of poverty among gari retailers and wholesalers in Ibadan Metropolis in Nigeria were critically examined. The results showed that gari retailing and wholesaling are low investment, female-dominated ventures the capital for which was derived mainly from personal source. Poverty incidence was 36.7% and 16.7% among retailers and wholesalers at poverty lines of N959.35 and N1,244.83 per month. At these poverty lines, twenty-two (22) retailers and ten (10) wholesalers (out of sixty in each case) were in poverty. The average spending of the 22 and 10 poor retailers and wholesalers were N724.18 and N1,244.14 per month. A poverty depth of 24.00% was obtained for retailers with the cost of eliminating poverty put at N14,110.20 per month. The corresponding values for wholesalers were 15.00% and N6,821.40 per month. Most of the retailers and wholesalers that were poor were just immediately below their respective poverty lines. The poverty severity indexes were 14.9% for retailers and 7.40% for wholesalers. This means that poverty is not very severe as only 15.0% of retailers and 6.7% of wholesalers were experiencing extremely chronic poverty situation. It is recommended that policy interventions which can reduce cost of business operation and increase invested capital for both groups be experimented as possible poverty alleviation strategies. Keywords: poverty incidence, depth, severity, gari middlemen, Ibadan metropolis Moor Journal of Agricultural Research Vol. 5(2) 2004: 135-14

Risks mitigation in the poulty sub-sector in Oyo state: A case study of the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Scheme

Risks and uncertainties associated with agricultural business have to a great extent undermined the productivity and sustainability of the agricultural sector by reducing the availability of institutional credit for investment in agriculture. Hence, this article examined the risks mitigating functions of the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Scheme in the poultry sub-sector in Oyo State. The study found that participation in tlie scheme, in terms of number of new farmers taking policy per year, has not been impressive despite 86.0% level of awareness of the scheme among non-participating farmers. Majority of the policy-holders (87%) are either small- or medium-scale farmers. Only a very few large-scale farmers are currently holding policy. The scheme has however done well in allowing participating farmers increased access to credit, which has culminated in boosting of production and farm income. About 74% of farmers that reported losses between 1989 and 1995 had their claims fully or partially settled. However, majority of those who had received compensations complained that he amount paid was small compared with their personal assessment of losses. The scheme has a high rate of turnover as only a few farmers who took policy at inception in 1989 are still doing so. Most of the current policy-holders (70%) joined the scheme late, for improved performance, it is recommended that premium rate be reviewed downward, compensation payment be stepped up, and commission on claim-free premium as well as the number of supervisory visits to farmers who are holding policy be increased. The scheme is also advised to become more comprehensive by covering more poultry diseases than are at present covered. Key words: Risks mitigation, premium, indemnity, poultry sub-sector, agricultural insurance, Oyo State

Marketing margin differentials at three levels of the egg distributive chain in Ibadan metropolis

No Abstract

Testing market integration of stable food stuffs in Borno State, Nigeria

No Abstract.Nigeria Agricultural Journal Vol. 37 2006: pp. 11-1

Trend performance in credit financing of rural business activities in Nigeria: a case study of community banks in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria

The study aimed at revealing and explaining the trend in performance indicators of agricultural and non-agricultural loan advanced to beneficiaries by some rural community banks (CBs). The tools used included growth rate analysis, loan stability and repayment indices and correlation coefficient. Empirical results showed that there was an increasing trend in the volume of loan granted and number of beneficiaries in all sectors between 1992 and 1999. Agricultural loan as a proportion of total volume of loan decreased almost consistently from 1992 to 1999 while the proportion increased for other sectors. Agriculture had loan growth rate of 10.57% compared with 28.06%, 24.9% and 18.73% for manufacturing, commerce and transport/communication sectors respectively. This indicates that rate of loan volume expansion is faster in other sectors than agriculture. The correlation index was smallest for agriculture (r = 0.636) and largest for manufacturing (r = 0.917) with the connotation that agriculture has the greatest tendency to suffer a reduction in average loan volume per beneficiary. The study concludes that agriculture is receiving a poor attention from the CBs in terms of credit. Measures are suggested to improve CBs credit to agriculture and repayment performance of agricultural loan beneficiaries. International Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development Vol. 7(1) 2006: 50-6