Youths’ perception on cashew production towards poverty reduction.

The study assessed youth perception on cashew production towards reducing poverty in Osun State, Nigeria. The specific objectives are; to describe the socio-economic characteristics of the youths involved in cashew production, identify the factors that encourage the involvement of youths in cashew production and examine the perception of youth about cashew production in Osun State. A multistage sampling procedure was adopted to select 96 respondents and structural interview scheduled was used to collect data from the selected respondents. The data collected were subjected to descriptive analysis such as frequency counts, percentage, mean, standard deviation and inferential analysis such as chi-square analysis to test for the hypothesis. Results show that the majority (83.3%) of the youths  that involved in cashew production are male, with mean age of 30.94 ± 2.4 years, an average farm size of 2.19 ± 0.45 hectares and average annual income of ₦164,844 00K ± ₦41,965.40K ($457.9 ±$116.6). About 53.1 percent of the respondents practice cashew farming mainly to earn a living. Findings from the study show those factors such as unemployment in non-agricultural sectors; favourable environment for cashew production including marketing availability and provide employment opportunity among others are motivational factors that enhances their involvement. Furthermore, source of information (χ2=32.331, p ≤0.01)), sex (χ2=7.513, p ≤0.05), marital status (χ2= 10.603, p ≤0.05) and reason for practicing cashew farming (χ2=29.766, p ≤0.05) had a positive and significant association with perception of youths towards cashew production. The study concluded that youths had a positive perception of cashew production and recommended among others that trainings in cashew value chain activities should be organized by agricultural development stakeholders to promote youth involvement in cashew value chain activities

Youths’ involvement in oil palm (Elaeis Guineensis) fruit processing activities

This study assessed the youths’ involvement in oil palm fruit processing activities in Ondo State, Nigeria. It described the socio-economic characteristics of youths involved in oil palm fruit processing activities, determined their level of involvement, examined their perception and identified constraints associated with their involvement. Multistage sampling procedure was employed to select 120 respondents from the study area. Interview schedule was employed to collect relevant data, which was analysed with SPSS software package. Descriptive statistics were used to summarise the data while inferential statistics were used to draw inference on hypothesis. The results show that majority (63.3%) were male, 95.8% had formal education with a mean age of 27.2 ± 2.7 years. Picking of fresh fruit bunches ( = 2.71), packaging ( = 2.60) and gathering of bunches ( = 2.50) were the major activities youth involved in. Higher percentage (57.9%) of the youth had favourable perception towards involvement in oil palm fruit processing activities. Lack of modern processing facilities ( =3.65) and funds/inadequate credit facilities ( = 3.65) were the prime constraints to their involvement. Number of labour (r = 0.7460; p≤0.01) and income (r = 0.601; p≤0.01) of the respondents were significantly related to youth involvement. The study concluded that youth had moderate involvement in oil palm processing activities. However, agricultural development stakeholders like government should provide adequate and functional credits facilities to these youths to encourage their involvement

Assessment of the impact of communication strategy (Radio Jingle) on the awareness of and the production of indigenous vegetables in Southwestern Nigeria

This work was carried out with the aid of a grant from Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and with financial support from the Government of Canada, provided through Global Affairs Canada (GAC)The IDRC-GAC (Global Affairs Canada) project on “Synergizing fertilizer micro-dosing and indigenous vegetable production to enhance food and economic security of West African farmers” project utilized a branded radio program “Ramo Elefo” (or Ramo, the Vegetable Seller) to create awareness about products and innovations promoted by the project as well as to effectively mobilize the general populace in adopting the innovations made popular by the project. The project intensively used three major mass media: radio, TV, newspapers/magazines. The media strategy reached up to 8 million people in Benin Republic and more than 10 million in Nigeria

Gender report : MicroVeg Project

This work was carried out with the aid of a grant from Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and with financial support from the Government of Canada, provided through Global Affairs Canada (GAC)This gender analysis relates to the larger project “Synergizing fertilizer micro-dosing and indigenous vegetable production to enhance food and economic security of West African farmers (CIFSRF Phase 2).” The aim was to understand gender roles that may influence the adoption of MicroVeg innovations across gender lines. Thus, efforts focused on the MicroVeg farmers training sessions as well as interaction and observations on the farms. Innovations include water management, fertilizer micro-dosing, staking and seed production. On average across the project locations, the distribution of farmers according to gender was almost equal, being 51% male and 49% females

Participatory Development of Demand-Driven Curriculum for Career-Ready E-Extension Services in Nigeria

This paper described and contextualized participatory development of demand-driven curriculum for career-ready e-extension services in Nigeria as introduced by the Sasakawa Africa Fund for Extension Education. The stages of participatory development were participatory need assessment, participatory stakeholders’ workshop and validation among 124 stakeholders selected as key informants in relation to agricultural extension training, delivery, end users and policy makers. The stakeholders were grouped as follows: community leaders and policy makers; extension agencies / organisations / institutions / employers; farmers; input suppliers / marketers / agro-based traders / other value actors; and potential candidate groups. Stakeholder meetings were held separately with different groups three times, and then a combined meeting took place. The aggregated major decisions/consensus were subjected to content analysis using ATLAS.ti. The validation process included reading of each agreed decision to all participants, then participants indicated their agreement or otherwise, which led to either rejection or acceptance of the decision. This paper concludes that participatory curriculum development has enhanced the stakeholders to identify areas of demand-driven training in response to community needs. The stakeholders preferred more online than face-to-face training. The major perceived advantages of e-extension were reduced risk, time and cost effectiveness while infrastructural and human challenges were the perceived challenges that could possibly hinder the smooth running of e-extension

Population-level risks of alcohol consumption by amount, geography, age, sex, and year: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2020

Background The health risks associated with moderate alcohol consumption continue to be debated. Small amounts of alcohol might lower the risk of some health outcomes but increase the risk of others, suggesting that the overall risk depends, in part, on background disease rates, which vary by region, age, sex, and year. Methods For this analysis, we constructed burden-weighted dose-response relative risk curves across 22 health outcomes to estimate the theoretical minimum risk exposure level (TMREL) and non-drinker equivalence (NDE), the consumption level at which the health risk is equivalent to that of a non-drinker, using disease rates from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2020 for 21 regions, including 204 countries and territories, by 5-year age group, sex, and year for individuals aged 15-95 years and older from 1990 to 2020. Based on the NDE, we quantified the population consuming harmful amounts of alcohol. Findings The burden-weighted relative risk curves for alcohol use varied by region and age. Among individuals aged 15-39 years in 2020, the TMREL varied between 0 (95% uncertainty interval 0-0) and 0.603 (0.400-1.00) standard drinks per day, and the NDE varied between 0.002 (0-0) and 1.75 (0.698-4.30) standard drinks per day. Among individuals aged 40 years and older, the burden-weighted relative risk curve was J-shaped for all regions, with a 2020 TMREL that ranged from 0.114 (0-0.403) to 1.87 (0.500-3.30) standard drinks per day and an NDE that ranged between 0.193 (0-0.900) and 6.94 (3.40-8.30) standard drinks per day. Among individuals consuming harmful amounts of alcohol in 2020, 59.1% (54.3-65.4) were aged 15-39 years and 76.9% (73.0-81.3) were male. Interpretation There is strong evidence to support recommendations on alcohol consumption varying by age and location. Stronger interventions, particularly those tailored towards younger individuals, are needed to reduce the substantial global health loss attributable to alcohol

Population-level risks of alcohol consumption by amount, geography, age, sex, and year: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2020

Background: The health risks associated with moderate alcohol consumption continue to be debated. Small amounts of alcohol might lower the risk of some health outcomes but increase the risk of others, suggesting that the overall risk depends, in part, on background disease rates, which vary by region, age, sex, and year. Methods: For this analysis, we constructed burden-weighted dose–response relative risk curves across 22 health outcomes to estimate the theoretical minimum risk exposure level (TMREL) and non-drinker equivalence (NDE), the consumption level at which the health risk is equivalent to that of a non-drinker, using disease rates from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2020 for 21 regions, including 204 countries and territories, by 5-year age group, sex, and year for individuals aged 15–95 years and older from 1990 to 2020. Based on the NDE, we quantified the population consuming harmful amounts of alcohol. Findings: The burden-weighted relative risk curves for alcohol use varied by region and age. Among individuals aged 15–39 years in 2020, the TMREL varied between 0 (95% uncertainty interval 0–0) and 0·603 (0·400–1·00) standard drinks per day, and the NDE varied between 0·002 (0–0) and 1·75 (0·698–4·30) standard drinks per day. Among individuals aged 40 years and older, the burden-weighted relative risk curve was J-shaped for all regions, with a 2020 TMREL that ranged from 0·114 (0–0·403) to 1·87 (0·500–3·30) standard drinks per day and an NDE that ranged between 0·193 (0–0·900) and 6·94 (3·40–8·30) standard drinks per day. Among individuals consuming harmful amounts of alcohol in 2020, 59·1% (54·3–65·4) were aged 15–39 years and 76·9% (73·0–81·3) were male. Interpretation: There is strong evidence to support recommendations on alcohol consumption varying by age and location. Stronger interventions, particularly those tailored towards younger individuals, are needed to reduce the substantial global health loss attributable to alcohol. Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation