Willingness to pay for safety label on sugar and vegetable oil among households in South – Western Nigeria

This study investigates willingness to pay for safety label on sugar and vegetable oil among households in South – Western Nigeria. In all, 390 consumers comprising 180 from Oyo and 210 from Lagos were sampled. Data collected include socio-economic, market and food safety information variables using structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and logit regression model were used for data analysis. Most (61.6% and 70.0%) of sugar and vegetable oil consumers are in their active age bracket of 16 and 45 years. Gender wise 55.6% and 56.3% of female consumed sugar and vegetable oil, while the corresponding values for male are 44.4% and 43.7% respectively. Consumer distribution by monthly income showed that 34.4% of sugar consumers earned an average income of N48,500 (±8,445) while 32.5% of vegetable oil consumers earned an average income greater than N95,500 (±10,500). Majority of sugar (52.2%), vegetable oil (51.1%) consumers had primary and tertiary education respectively. The mean household size for sugar and vegetable oil consumers are 4 (±2) and 6 (±3) respectively. Fewer (33.3%) of consumers of sugar and (43.8%) of vegetable oil consumers are aware of food safety information. Consumers have higher (66.3%) level of awareness of Vitamin A in vegetable oil compared to sugar (21.1%). The consumer’s mean WTP for food safety information was N36.41k/kg for sugar and N15.98/litre of vegetable oil. This represented a market premium of 91.3% and 53.3% of the maximum bid for food safety in both sugar and vegetable oil. While increased in age (â = -0.11) reduced WTP for safety information in sugar, higher level of education increased WTP (â 0.4569) at P < 0.01. In the case of vegetable oil being a woman (â = 0.9521), having high income (â = 0.9956) and purchasing from registered shop (â = 0.9452) increased WTP at P < 0.05. Consumers are willing to pay more for food safety information on sugar compared with vegetable oil. However, consumers willingness to pay (WTP) for safety label increased with buying from registered shop and having high income

Determinants of Yield Gap in Lowland Rice Production in North-Central Nigeria.

Although Nigeria has comparative resource advantage in terms of favourable climatic, edaphic and ecological conditions in the production of rice, local production has not been able to meet the growing demand. The inability of the Nigerian rice economy to satisfy the domestic demand and the consequent growth of rice import quantity and value remains a cause of concern. The study analyzed the difference between potential and actual yield of rice in North Central Nigeria. Employing a multi-stage sampling technique, data were obtained through the use of structured questionnaire administered to a sample of one hundred and forty four rice farmers in Niger state, Nigeria. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and regression models. Results indicated that rice farmers in the area cultivated four improved rice varieties WITA 4, FARO 15, FARO 35 and FARO 44 with average yield gaps of 1.48, 2.85, 3.03 and 3.20 tons per hectare respectively. This makes these rice varieties under-exploited as farmers operate at levels where they obtain an average of 49% of the potential yield. Factors which contribute to the reduction in the magnitude of rice yield gap include increase in the frequency of contacts between farmers and extension workers, increase in fertilizer use per hectare and higher intensity of tractor use. It was recommended that the yield potential of cultivated rice varieties should be fully exploited as a first option to meeting the current level of national rice demand because increased rice production towards the attainment of self-sufficiency may well hinge upon the ability of farmers to narrow the gap between current rice yields and yield potentials.Keywords: Lowland rice, Yield gap, Nigeria

Incidence of Poverty among Fish Farming Households in Oyo and Osun States of Nigeria

The objective of the study is to analyse poverty among fish farming households based on functioning and capabilities in the study area. The study covered both Oyo and Osun states of Nigeria. Primary data were collected via structured questionnaire. The study employed multistage sampling technique. In all, a total of 280 respondents were used for the study. Information on dimensions of functioning, income and expenditure were derived from the data collected. Data were analysed using input distance function and Foster, Greer and Tobecke (FGT )1984 Poverty measure The study revealed that about 16% of fish farmers were non poor, 14% were moderately poor and 70% were core poor. Fish farmers in the study area did not enjoy moderate levels of standard of living (0.35).Moderate poverty incidence is highest in the households without formal education and lowest in the households with tertiary education. Household heads with age range of 31-40 years had highest moderate poverty incidence while those with age range of 41-50 years had highest core poverty incidence. Household heads that were divorced /separated had highest moderate poverty incidence while those that were married had highest core poverty incidence. Household heads that had no formal education had the highest poverty intensity of 60%. Household head with the age group of 41-50 years had the highest poverty intensity of 43%. Household heads with household size above ten members had the highest poverty intensity of 61%. Household heads that were married had the highest poverty intensity of 98%. Mean values for many constituents of standard of living reveals that the total durable asset dimension scores highest followed by education, housing condition and per capita income dimensions.Key words: Core poor, moderately poor, poverty incidence, poverty intensit

The decomposition of income inequality by sources of income: the rural Nigerian experience

The study examines income inequality by sources of income in Nigeria. A standard Gini decomposition method was applied on a nationally representative data to examine the differential impact of various types of income sources - including non-farm income - on inequality in rural Nigeria. The results revealed that agriculture accounts for the largest share of the total inequality, followed by wage income sources and self-employment contributes the least. It is evident that agriculture is inequality increasing, while wage and household self employments are inequality decreasing. African Journal of Economic Policy Vol. 11(1) 2004: 1-1

Determinants of farmers' perception of land degradation and adoption of soil conservation technologies among rice farmers in Osun-State, Nigeria

The study investigated farmers' perception of land degradation, and adoption of soil conservation practices using a two-stage decision making process. The data for the study were collected with the aid of structured questionnaire and analyzed with descriptive analysis and simultaneous probit model. The results show erosion as the major cause of land degradation and 69% of the farmers experienced a low level of crop loss to land degradation. Majority of the farmers (80%) prefer fertilizer application as a conservation method. Their level of education and membership of organization raise awareness of the farmers to land degradation problems. The actual adoption of conservation practices by the farmers is influenced by the extent to which they perceive land degradation to be a problem; level of education, ownership of farmland; farm size and percentage of crop loss. Keywords: land degradation, perception and adoption, conservation practices, simultaneous probit modelJournal of Environmental Extension Vol 5 2005: 45-5

Measuring technical efficiency of urban farms in Uyo metropolis

No abstractKeywords: urban farming; technical efficiency; stochastic frontier; population pressureGlobal Journal of Agricultural Sciences Vol. 4(1) 2005: 91-9

Land degradation and adoption of soil conservation technologies among rice farmers in Osun State, Nigeria

Land degradation leads to decline in soil fertility and low yield of crop. The study investigates the causes of land degradation, and adoption of soil conservation practices using a two-stage decision making process. The data for the study were collected with the aid of structured questionnaire and analyzed with descriptive analysis, difference regression equation and simultaneous probit model. The results show erosion as the major cause of land degradation and 69% of the farmers experienced a low level of crop loss to land degradation while a one percent (1%) increase in land area cultivated results in 0.067% loss of rice output. Majority of the farmers (80%) prefer fertilizer application as a conservation method. Their level of education and membership of organization raise conservation practices by the farmers is influenced by the extent to which they perceive land degradation to be a problem; level of education, ownership of farmland; farm size and percentage of crop loss. The major problem identified by the farmers is the high cost of suitable soil conservation methods.Keywords: land degradation; perception and adoption; conservation practices; simultaneous probit modelJournal of Agriculture, Forestry and the Social Sciences Vol 3(1) 2005: 1-