Agricultural Economics, farm management

This study investigates the income-generating potential of youth engaged in the cassava value chain under the Value Chain Development Programme by focusing on production, supply, harvesting, postharvest handling, processing, value addition, and marketing & distribution. Primary data were obtained through a well-structured questionnaire administered to 387 respondents, using a Taro Yamane sample size formula. An inferential statistical analysis was conducted using t-tests to assess differences in income across the nodes. Results indicate that the mean incomes at all stages of the cassava value chain: production (₦504,275.21), supply (₦2,750,555.00), harvest (₦56,613.94), post-harvest (₦117,425.55), processing (₦1,015,606.50), value addition (₦35,100.06) and marketing & distribution (₦192,603.48) were statistically significant at the 1% level, with t-ratios ranging from-15.47 to-94.79. The processing (₦1,015,606.50) and supply (₦2,750,555.00) chains recorded the highest mean incomes. Although variations exist, the persistent statistical significance observed across stages highlights the potential of cassava-based enterprises as sustainable income-generating opportunities for young people. The study concludes that income differences between nodes are significant, suggesting that youths can strategically select entry points within the value chain based on profitability. It recommends sustaining the programme as a pathway for youth employment and entrepreneurship.

This study effectively assesses climate change, extension, and rural livelihoods in South East Nigeria. Its clear objectives, specifically examined the socioeconomic characteristics of rice and cassava respondents involved in IFAD-assisted VCDP, identified the livelihoods available to the respondents, examined the adaptive strategies available to cushion the effect of climate change, and determined the constraints to rice and cassava production in the areas. An appropriate multistage sampling design, combining purposive and random sampling techniques, was used to select 300 rice and cassava farmers. Data were collected using a well-structured questionnaire and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs). Analysis combines descriptive statistics, coding, thematic interpretation, and an inferential t-test. The study revealed that female respondents (54.7%) dominated the area, with an average age of approximately 41 years; the majority (50.3%) were single, the majority (51.7%) had a formal education, and the mean farming experience was 10 years. The mean contact with extension agents per annum was approximately 8 times; a greater proportion (24.7%) were producers & marketers. The mean rice production was 9.94 tonnes, and the mean cassava production was 41.44 tonnes of cassava. The majority (53.7%) agree that their primary livelihood is rice and cassava processing. The adaptation strategies to climate change were: the use of improved rice & cassava varieties, the timing of planting, and rice bunding. The main constraints were the high cost of labour, the high cost of transportation, and bad roads. The study demonstrates that participation in an extension programme significantly improved the livelihoods of rice and cassava farmers in South East Nigeria. It is recommended that policy interventions prioritize reducing labour and transportation costs, improving rural road infrastructure, strengthening input supply systems, reforming land tenure to enhance access, expanding affordable credit facilities, and addressing insecurity to foster resilience and sustainable agricultural development.

The efficiency of resource use the MVP of resource have been worked out and compared with their acquisition cost. If the MVP/MC is greater than unity, It indicates scope for increasing the expenditure on input variable. If the ratio less than unity, it indicates excess expenditure on the variable and consequent need to decrease the input use. In the light of present inferences, resource use efficiency of all five variables could not be happened either less than or equal to unity. The results indicated that there was sufficient scope for increasing the variable (labour, seed/suckers, manure & fertilizer and irrigation). In order to attain profitability of mentha oil production the ratio has to tend to unity as, it indicates efficient use of various resources of production. The use of human labour, seed, manure and fertilizer, irrigation and distillation charges have showed positive response on production on all size group of farms.

Growing mint considered as a bonus cash crops as it does not disturb or replace the cultivation of any major winter and rainy season crop. Being a labour intensive crop, cultivation, distillation, processing and marketing of mint provide ample employment opportunities in rural areas. Sakran and Biswan block of Sitapur District having highest area in mentha cultivation was selected from 19 blocks of sitapur district. A list of 100 farmers were selected randomly from villages namely Sakran, Kutbapur, Kuttupur Nipania, Nipania Maphe based on acreage under menthe cultivation 925 from each village). The farmers were categorized in marginal, small, medium and large category for analysis and interpretation of results. the major component on which cost was incurred being machinery charges 12.58 percent and Manure & fertilizer 18.02 percent. The input output ratios reveals that one rupee invested earn rupee 2.27 to 7.44 for marginal and large farmers respectively. The economic benefit gets reduced over different cost concepts over all the size group of farmers. Benefits over cost C3 the profit got reduced to 41.85, 38.37, 40.08, and 36.15 percent for marginal, small, medium, large farmers respectively.

This study investigates the income-generating potential of youth engaged in the cassava value chain under the Value Chain Development Programme by focusing on production, supply, harvesting, postharvest handling, processing, value addition, and marketing & distribution. Primary data were obtained through a well-structured questionnaire administered to 387 respondents, using a Taro Yamane sample size formula. An inferential statistical analysis was conducted using t-tests to assess differences in income across the nodes. Results indicate that the mean incomes at all stages of the cassava value chain: production (₦504,275.21), supply (₦2,750,555.00), harvest (₦56,613.94), post-harvest (₦117,425.55), processing (₦1,015,606.50), value addition (₦35,100.06) and marketing & distribution (₦192,603.48) were statistically significant at the 1% level, with t-ratios ranging from-15.47 to-94.79. The processing (₦1,015,606.50) and supply (₦2,750,555.00) chains recorded the highest mean incomes. Although variations exist, the persistent statistical significance observed across stages highlights the potential of cassava-based enterprises as sustainable income-generating opportunities for young people. The study concludes that income differences between nodes are significant, suggesting that youths can strategically select entry points within the value chain based on profitability. It recommends sustaining the programme as a pathway for youth employment and entrepreneurship.

This study investigates the income-generating potential of youth engaged in the cassava value chain under the Value Chain Development Programme by focusing on production, supply, harvesting, postharvest handling, processing, value addition, and marketing & distribution. Primary data were obtained through a well-structured questionnaire administered to 387 respondents, using a Taro Yamane sample size formula. An inferential statistical analysis was conducted using t-tests to assess differences in income across the nodes. Results indicate that the mean incomes at all stages of the cassava value chain: production (₦504,275.21), supply (₦2,750,555.00), harvest (₦56,613.94), post-harvest (₦117,425.55), processing (₦1,015,606.50), value addition (₦35,100.06) and marketing & distribution (₦192,603.48) were statistically significant at the 1% level, with t-ratios ranging from-15.47 to-94.79. The processing (₦1,015,606.50) and supply (₦2,750,555.00) chains recorded the highest mean incomes. Although variations exist, the persistent statistical significance observed across stages highlights the potential of cassava-based enterprises as sustainable income-generating opportunities for young people. The study concludes that income differences between nodes are significant, suggesting that youths can strategically select entry points within the value chain based on profitability. It recommends sustaining the programme as a pathway for youth employment and entrepreneurship.

This work presents productive and reproductive results of the simulations made with an extensive livestock farm model on basaltic soils. The scenari were constructed varying the initial grass height (GH) and the system stocking rate (SR). The model is chaotic, dynamic, empirical and deterministic. It was built in a participatory way with a group of local stakeholders of the basaltic region of the country (Uruguay). A simplified version of it was utilized, where only one parcel and only one animal category were simulated each time. No adaptive management was implemented into the simulation process. These models represent a Breeding (Br) and a Rearing (Re) extensive systems, where the exclusive feed source is the natural pasture. All scenari were simulated with average pasture growth, estimated by satellite remote sensing for the series 2000-2010, for a representative farm basaltic region. Annual results of pregnancy rate and live weight gain per animal were the two main outputs analy...

This work presents productive and reproductive results of the simulations made with an extensive livestock farm model on basaltic soils. The scenari were constructed varying the initial grass height (GH) and the system stocking rate (SR). The model is chaotic, dynamic, empirical and deterministic. It was built in a participatory way with a group of local stakeholders of the basaltic region of the country (Uruguay). A simplified version of it was utilized, where only one parcel and only one animal category were simulated each time. No adaptive management was implemented into the simulation process. These models represent a Breeding (Br) and a Rearing (Re) extensive systems, where the exclusive feed source is the natural pasture. All scenari were simulated with average pasture growth, estimated by satellite remote sensing for the series 2000-2010, for a representative farm basaltic region. Annual results of pregnancy rate and live weight gain per animal were the two main outputs analy...

The major constraints faced by aquaculturists operating within Anambra State, Nigeria were investigated between the month of January, 2021 to December 2021 with a view of proffering solutions to them. A sample of 80 fish farmers were selected within the four agricultural zones of Anambra using Taro Yamani formula. Field observation, oral interviews, questionnaires and visits to farm sites were used to access the farmers. The result on socioeconomic characters of the farmers revealed that there were more male fish farmers (75.8%), average fish farmers age ranged from 41-50 years (34.7%), with majority of them being married (71.3%). They were also educated with primary education (48.8 %) and an average household number of 4-6 persons (60.0%). Overall mean for production constraints were (3.32), environmental constraints (3.17), socio-cultural (3.06) institutional constraints (3.40), infrastructural, financial, technological and marketing constraints were (3.72, 3.72, 3.51, and 3.32) respectively, and they all were above 2.5 likert scale indicating they were all major constraints. Infrastructural and financial constraints were identified as the most major constraints among all of them and ranked highest with mean range of 3.72 both among the other constraints. In conclusion, government of Anambra state is advised through the findings of this study to as a matter of urgency embark upon massive infrastructural development to stem the tide of rural-urban migration among the youths in the state as well as supporting these fish farmers with soft loans, grants, and other financial assistance in order to solve some of these identified constraints.

"Dentro de las actividades que se plantea el proyecto PIC 2 en el departamento de Rocha se va a tratar un tema que comúnmente no es abordado, la organización del trabajo en la ganadería familiar. ¿Por qué se eligió este tema? Por un lado la presión de intensificar la producción porteras adentro, por el otro el deseo de disminuir la carga de trabajo, llevan a que uno de los objetivos que plantean los productores es el de simplificar los trabajos."

This study analysed the participation of poultry farmers in agricultural insurance in Jos metropolis of Plateau State, Nigeria. A simple random sampling technique was employed to select 130 poultry farmers. Structured questionnaire schedules were used to elicit information from the respondents. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and logit regression models. The result shows that 68.5% of the farmers are below 50 years old with a mean age of 45 years; 58% were males; all the farmers had one form of educational qualification or the other; 51% had household size of 4-6 members with a mean of 6 persons. Most of the respondents (59%) had been in poultry business for 6-10 years with a mean of 8 years; while 82% have owner’s equity as source of credit. The analysis of the determinants of Poultry farmers participation showed that educational level, gender, poultry farming experience perception of cost of premium and source of capital were significant variables that influenc...

Paddy belongs to family poaceae. Paddy is the stable food of more than 60 per cent of the world population and for about three forth of the Indian population. Scented rice was known since the ancient times, and was considered the best among specialty rices. The study is based on 100 sample farms of different categories viz. marginal (40), small (27) medium (17) and large (16). Multistage stratified proportionate random sampling was applied for selection of respondents. Primary information was collected through personal interview method on pre-tested questionnaires. Simple tabular analysis was applied for drawing results. Overall average, per hectare cost of cultivation was estimated Rs.24585.72 in the study area. Per hectare cost of cultivation revealed inverse relationship with the size of holding of the respondents in the study area. Input-output ratio, on overall average farm observed 1:2.28, in the study area. Scented rice is a lucrative crop of the study area and is suitable fo...

El Instituto Plan Agropecuario junto con Facultad de Agronomia, recibio en el 2013-2014 a Marion Le Bihan, una pasante francesa que cursa estudios en Agronomia en AgroParisTech. Esta actividad se llevo a cabo en el marco del proyecto Mouve, donde participaron investigadores franceses de VetAgroSup (Instituto de ensenanza terciaria e investigacion en alimentacion, sanidad animal, ciencias agronomicas y del medio ambiente) e INRA (Instituto Nacional de Investigacion Agropecuaria). Agradecemos a productores y tecnicos de diferentes instituciones que colaboraron en la investigacion.

Potato is a highly consumed staple food in Afghanistan, ranking third in dietary preferences among households, following wheat and rice. Bamyan province is responsible for around 70 percent of the potato production in the country. Although the province possesses a distinct comparative advantage in potato production within the country, potato producers face significant levels of waste during various stages of production. Hence, this study was carried out to examine the fundamental causes of potato waste and determine the techniques for reducing it. The study was conducted in four districts of the province, utilizing the multistage sampling approach. A total of 390 potato growers were interviewed using semi-structured questionnaires. Descriptive and inferential methods were employed for data analysis. Based on exploratory factor analysis, the key factors that significantly impact postharvest waste management, as perceived by farmers, are 'appropriate storage management', 'proper harvesting and post-harvesting practices', 'pests and diseases control', 'suitable cultivation activities', and 'irrigation management'. Specialized training programs are necessary for farmers to enhance their formal education and embrace new methods. Furthermore, Introducing improvements to storage facilities and employing simple postharvest techniques such as curing, sorting, and washing can effectively minimize waste in the studied area.

Il farm management o gestione agraria è la capacità di guardare all’attività agricola come a un business.
Per Don Rogers, affermato consulente di Farm Credit (rete di cooperative finanziarie statunitensi per il mondo agricolo), la cosa che più conta in agricoltura è avere una mentalità rivolta agli affari, ovvero un’attenzione sempre viva sull’andamento dei mercati – locali e internazionali – e un costante controllo dei costi.
In questo libro ci occuperemo di farm management sotto un profilo essenzialmente pratico, lasciando da parte le pur interessanti e numerose teorie esistenti in materia.

This study examines the Determinants of Loan Repayment Among Cooperative Farmers in Awka North L.G.A of Anambra state, Nigeria. The study provides empirical evidence on the farmers' socioeconomic characteristics as well as determine which of the characteristics that influence loan repayment, the range of amount of loan applied for, amount received and amount repaid by the cooperative farmers and organizational factors affecting the farmers' credit repayment ability. Findings reveled that the joint effect of the explanatory variable in the model account for 91.9% of the variations in the factors affecting the farmers' credit repayment ability. Four coefficients (educational qualification, farm size, , loan application cost, and collateral value) are significant at 5%, 1% respectively. Age, membership duration and income of the farmers were not significant but it shows a positive relationship with loan repayment. There is a significant difference between the amount of loan received and amount repaid by the cooperative farmers. All the Organizational factors affecting the farmers' credit repayment ability are significant at 0.000 significant level. The study recommends that farmers can be made to improve on their repayment of farm credit by adoption of income support measures which would serve as panacea. Lending institutions should ensure that whoever they are lending to meets a minimum threshold in asset value before loans are accessed. This will help to reduce defaulters.

This study examines the Determinants of Loan Repayment Among Cooperative Farmers in Awka North L.G.A of Anambra state, Nigeria. The study provides empirical evidence on the farmers' socioeconomic characteristics as well as determine which of the characteristics that influence loan repayment, the range of amount of loan applied for, amount received and amount repaid by the cooperative farmers and organizational factors affecting the farmers' credit repayment ability. Findings reveled that the joint effect of the explanatory variable in the model account for 91.9% of the variations in the factors affecting the farmers' credit repayment ability. Four coefficients (educational qualification, farm size, , loan application cost, and collateral value) are significant at 5%, 1% respectively. Age, membership duration and income of the farmers were not significant but it shows a positive relationship with loan repayment. There is a significant difference between the amount of loan received and amount repaid by the cooperative farmers. All the Organizational factors affecting the farmers' credit repayment ability are significant at 0.000 significant level. The study recommends that farmers can be made to improve on their repayment of farm credit by adoption of income support measures which would serve as panacea. Lending institutions should ensure that whoever they are lending to meets a minimum threshold in asset value before loans are accessed. This will help to reduce defaulters.

This study investigated the socioeconomic drivers of smallholder rice farmers' participation in the international fund for agricultural development (IFAD) value chain development programmes in Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling method was used in selecting 509 programme participants and 608 non-participants for the collection of data for the study. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression were used to analyze the data obtained. Results of the descriptive analysis showed that rice farming activities were male dominated in the study area (91.8% and 73.8%) in Niger and Ogun State respectively. The mean farm size for participating producers and non-participants respondents in Niger state were 1.41ha and 2.17ha while the mean farm size for participants and non-participants respondents in Ogun State were 2.52ha and 2.48ha respectively The result of the logistic regression model revealed that level of education, access to road infrastructure (p < 0.05); farm size, cooperative membership, distance from the nearest market, vulnerability context (p < 0.01) and access to land (p < 0.10) played a significant role in the decision of smallholder rice farmers to participate in IFAD value chain development programme in Nigeria. The study recommended that the cooperative societies should be strengthened since they constituted one of the critical variables that influence the decision of rice value chain actors to participate in the intervention programme.

The aim of this study was to characterize different aspects of women’s work at dairy family farms in France and Uruguay, from the analysis of practices and theirs representations. A study of 20 cases of women was carried out (10 in Uruguay and 10 in France), using semi-structured interviews, that later were re-transcribed for the thematic analysis of content. The results revealed that the familiar dairy farming involve an homogeneous participation of women work, with the main difference between studied countries in the gender status in the society and professional level of the women. Women from both countries carry out mainly the milking, the care of calves and the administrative work, varying their degree of responsibility. Their role in the work group can be assigned, delegated or chosen. The constructed compromise as a whole, can vary between strong (be responsible for tasks, active participation in decisions and chosen role) and weak (little participation in the tasks and little...

Pistachios are considered one of the trees that can withstand the desert conditions in Iraq , as their cultivation is spread in the countries neighboring Iraq.This study aimed to study the technical, economic and marketing feasibility of a project to grow an orchard of pistachios in the Anbar desert on an area of 50 acres, and the study indicated that the Iraqi market can absorb the production of about two million trees in its early ages and in the long run and after the expansion of agriculture can search for external markets. The technical indicators indicated the suitability of the desert environment in Al-Anbar Governorate for this type of investment to withstand drought on the one hand and the availability of an appropriate climate for fruit ripening on the other. The cultivation of pistachios in the deserts of Iraq is considered a long-term investment and can be considered as a saving for future generations as well as the role it plays in operating the labor force as a grove of 50 dunums can be considered a source "of future family income as it achieves an annual income of 40 million dinars Annually, investing in this type of project is based on achieving two goals at the same time. The first is additional job opportunities and the other is to take advantage of environmental impacts and as part of desertification control projects. And that this project, despite its long-term revenues, can contribute In the distant future to create additional sources of foreign currency, as well as achieving a net added value of up to 37 million dinars and its ability to recover the money invested in it in the absence of a discount in the nineteenth year and can convert the accumulated present value of its net cash flows to a positive value under a discount rate 5% up to 23 years old.

This paper was undertaken to examine the effect of cooperative on farmers’ output in Awka South Local Government Area, Anambra State, Nigeri. The study used a descriptive and inferential statistics to analyze data that were obtained from one hundred and twenty-six (126) respondents. Findings revealed that before joining cooperatives that farmers do have access to improved seedlings and fertilizer while they do not have adequate access to agric credit, emerging markets, and extension services. However, after joining there was an improvement in their access to agric credit, improved seedlings, fertilizer and emerging markets, but there was limited access to extension services. T-test result shows that there is a significant difference on the mean difference between services received by members before and after belonging to farmers cooperative. Regression results also show that farmers membership of cooperative has a significant and positive effect on the farmers output. Based on the f...

The research objective was to determine the effect of production, consumption of harvested area and the exchange rate on Indonesian soybean imports. The data used in this study is secondary data in the form of time series data for the period 1990-2021. The research method used was Multiple Linear Regression with the help of SPSS version 25 software. The results showed that based on the results of multiple linear analysis, it was concluded that Indonesian soybean imports were significantly influenced by soybean production, soybean consumption, harvested area and the rupiah exchange rate against the dollar. Soybean production has a significant positive effect on soybean imports, while consumption has no significant effect. Harvested area and the rupiah-dollar exchange rate had a significant negative effect on soybean imports.

The study determined the accessibility and repayment of agricultural loans among small-scale farmers in Benue State, Nigeria. Structured questionnaires were used to obtain information from 238 farmers randomly selected. Data were analysed with descriptive statistics, ordered logit regression and multiple regression analysis. Result shows that farmers have a mean age of 46.84 years and majority (77.3%) of the farmers were males. Most (87.0%) of the farmers were married and spent 9.9 years in acquiring formal education with experience of 22.4 years. Majority (82.4%) of the respondents obtained informal loans. The age, sex, farm size and collateral value have a significant relationship on the level of farmer's access to formal loan. Similarly, sex, farm size, major occupation and interest rate were found to have a significant relationship on the level of access to informal loans. Farmer's loan repayment rate was 78.95% and 68.78% for formal and informal loans respectively. Marital status, major occupation, loan size, duration and number of instalments factors influencing the repayment of formal loan. However, loan size and number of instalments were the factors that have significant effect on repayment of informal loan. It was recommended that that conscious use of policies directed at increasing the amount of loan obtained by farmers should be promoted; disbursement of loan should be directed at farmers that have other sources of income.

The price of soybean in Indonesia some times have soared uncontrollable. The producer (especially micro enterprises) of tofu and tempe are no longerable to produce in that situation. Consequently the amount of tofu and tempe are rarely in the market, meanwhile they are one of the important needs of Indonesian people. In fact, the government adopted a policy of instant such as remove import duties on imported soybeans. The policy was not strategic and could be fatal, because the country would be flooded by soybean imports.While farmers were getting ready to go out of business. With quantitative and qualitative approaches, this paper analyzed regarding (1)to analyze the impact of increasing soybean price to operating income of tempe producers with operating income analysis (2)to analyze strategy of adjustments made by the producers of tempe to preserve their business with in depth interview. This analysis concluded that Operating income declined more than a half. That condition is very hard to continue their business. If the capital of producers of tempe was not enough strong, they would be going out of their business. In such difficult conditions, they did innotive strategy by reducing the size of tempe though at the same price.

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This study ascertained the influence of farmers' perceptions of climate change effects and their household characteristics on the choice of adaptation technologies they adopt. The survey relied mainly on institutional and primary data for its analysis. Primary data was obtained from arable crop farmers using a set of structured questionnaires administered in a multi-stage, stratified random sampling manner. Sixty (60) farmers were selected from randomly selected states for the five agroclimatic zones in Nigeria, giving a total sample size of 300 farmers. The collected data was analysed using Heckman's probit selectivity model. It was found that extension contact, gender of the head of household, temperature and rainfall levels determined the decision to adapt to climate change. The respective Z estimates of these aspects were 5.75 (p < 0.01), 5.30 (p < 0.01), 2.32 (p < 0.01) and-9.50 (p < 0.01). However, the farmers' perceptions of climate change effects were determined by education and agricultural extension access. The Z values for these were 5.42 (p < 0.01) and 2.86 (p < 0.01) respectively. The researcher recommends urgent measures to help farmers adapt to climate change, such as the establishment of weather stations and building the capacities of farmers, especially women.

Purpose-This paper aims to understand the implementation of a circular economic business where animal manure is used to produce biogas and alternative fertilizer in a regional network of manure suppliers and biogas producers and to reveal the impacts of five variables (manure quantity, transportation distance, manure dry content, manure price and manure discharge price) on the economic sustainability of manurebased biogas supply chains. Design/methodology/approach-An enterprise input-output approach is used to model physical and monetary flows of the manure-based biogas supply chain. Computational experiments are performed on all variables to identify under which conditions the cooperation is beneficial for all actors. Findings-The cooperation is profitable for a large-scale farm (>20,000 t/year) if biogas producer (b) pays farmer (f) to receive its manure (5 e/t) or if f sells manure for free and manure disposal costs are >10 e/t. Cooperation is always profitable for b if f pays b to supply its manure (5e/t). If b receives manure for free, benefits are always positive if b is a medium-large-scale plant (>20,000 t/year). For a small-scale plant, benefits are positive if manure dry content (MDC) is !12 per cent and transportation distance is #10 km.

This study analyzed the financing agro-based small and medium scale enterprises by selected commercial banks in   Enugu state, Nigeria. It specifically sought to ascertain the quantum of loans disbursed to the small and medium scale agro-based enterprises by the selected banks in the study area as well as the factors that determined such disbursements. A multi-stage sampling procedure was adopted in this study. Three Banks, namely First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) Plc, Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN) Plc and United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc were purposively selected because they are among the top lenders to agro-based enterprises and some other economic activities in the state. Data for the study were obtained from both primary and secondary sources and analyzed through the use of descriptive and inferential statistics. The bulk of the sampled small scale agro-based enterprises (76.67%) accessed between N 200,000 and N 600,000 ($1,256.25 and $3,750) while 56.67% of the medium scale agro-based...

Despite technological advancement in maize seed and production improvement, the climate as a single factor still has significant influence on maize yield in Nigeria. With changes in weather and climate being experienced, the study therefore focused on the effect of climate on maize production which is expressed as a function of the variability in the rainfall pattern in Lagos State. The study employed the use of secondary data of rainfall and maize yield spanning 10 years from 1997 to 2006. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and simple linear regression. The planting date of maize fluctuated between 1999 and 2000 and the yield declined between 1999 - 2000 and 2002-2003 in response to variability in rainfall. Average estimates of rainfall and maize yield were 1,422.9 mm and 2,135 tonnes for the period under study while their variance estimates were 80908.77 mm and 46 tonnes with coefficients of variation of 19.99% and 10.04% respectively. The results also show that a...

The study was conducted in Zamfara State, Nigeria to assess the role of local Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in community development. A questionnaire was administered to 200 randomly selected beneficiaries of NGOs activities. Another questionnaire was administered to 58 purposively sampled officials of local NGOs for the study. Descriptive such as (frequencies and percentages) and inferential statistics like t-test and correlation were used to analyze the data collected from the field. The study revealed that, local NGOs contributes significantly to community development in various ways such as through community self-help efforts; training and retraining of community members and awareness creation and sensitization of community members. It was revealed that, these efforts resulted to many improvements such as increased enrolments of children in schools; improved health care service delivery; and increased agricultural yields. The research has shown that, beneficiaries provide water; labour and venue during execution of community development efforts. The study identified problems militating against smooth running of NGOs activities: inadequate funds and personnel; low level of beneficiaries 'commitments; and low level of government support. It was recommended that, government, individuals and development partners should provide more financial, technical and human resources support to NGOs in order to make them effective and efficient in delivery of community development services.

This study examines the factors that affect farmer's participation and loan repayment of Osun Rural Enterprise and Agricultural Program (OREAP) micro credit scheme introduced by the government in Osun State. Respondents were proportionately selected from the three (3) Agricultural Development Zones in Osun State. A three-stage sampling technique was used to proportionately draw 90 beneficiaries and 90 nonbeneficiaries from the three agro-ecological zones of the state. Logit regression and ordinary least square model were used to analyze the data. The results showed that Participation in OREAP is significantly affected by gender, marital status, household size, educational status, farm size, farm income, access to extension service and membership in cooperative society. The results also revealed that education, farm income, size of loan granted, and number of loan disbursement are significantly associated with the time it took the respondents to pay back the loan. The farmer's inability to market their produce, risk and fluctuations in farm yield and uncooperative attitudes of other beneficiaries were the constraints faced by farmers as it affect their ability to repay the loan obtained through the program. The study concluded that the activities of OREAP had not been properly carried out in the study area as a result of the problems encountered by beneficiaries in obtaining and repayment of the loan. The research therefore, recommends that government and other agricultural agencies should encourage farmers to go into value additions of their produce as this will reduce gloat in the market and wastage of farm produce thereby enabling farmers to be able to repay the loan obtained for their agricultural activities.

This paper addressed the effects of climate on the net revenue of farmers in Cross River State. The specific objectives of this paper are; to examine the level of yam production in Cross River State and, to determine the factors that affect farmers&#39; net revenue. Data was collected from 209 farmers using a well-structured questionnaire. The analysis was done using the independent sample t-test, the Chi-square test and Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression. The findings revealed that the mean value of the respondents on the level of profit was N88,192.13, while the maximum and minimum amount were N110,000 and N50,000, respectively. The independent sample t-test showed that education produced a statistically significant difference in means. The Chi-square test showed that educational level (p-value =0.047), age (p-value=0.034), farming experience (p-value=0.061) and access to credit (p-value=0.088) have a relationship with the net revenue of farmers. The result from the OLS regres...

The aims of this study are to find out the effect of Government policy, Marketing, Production, risk management and macro environment variables on Access to business financing. The sample in this study is broiler breeders who have never obtained credit from formal financial institutions as many as 60 people which thirty farmers in Sidenreng Rappang Regency and thirty farmers in Pinrang Regency. Data then analyzed with Multiple Regression Analysis. The results show that Government policy, Marketing, Production, risk management, and macro environment have a positive and significant effect on Access to Business Financing.

Agriculture is the backbone of Indian economy, and climate change significantly affects agriculture productivity. The present study was conducted in one district of Uttarakhand state in the North Himalayan region of India bordering Nepal and China. The study sample comprised 110 farmers selected by using simple random sampling. Study findings indicate that all the farmers were found to be aware of the climate change, and majority of them reported "erratic rainfall, diminishing agricultural yield and increase in temperature" as the indicators of climate change. The increasing industrialisation, overpopulation and deforestation' were perceived by farmers to be the main causes of climate change. Further, most of the farmers reported crop failures, migration to other places and flooding' as three major consequences (impact) of climate change. The study findings will help in preparing a roadmap for policy formulation as well as undertaking mitigation measures besides helping the agriculture extension agencies to design and plan locale specific adaptation strategies and agriculture development programmes.

The study was conducted in Zamfara State, Nigeria to assess the role of local Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in community development. A questionnaire was administered to 200 randomly selected beneficiaries of NGOs activities. Another questionnaire was administered to 58 purposively sampled officials of local NGOs for the study. Descriptive such as (frequencies and percentages) and inferential statistics like t-test and correlation were used to analyze the data collected from the field. The study revealed that, local NGOs contributes significantly to community development in various ways such as through community self-help efforts; training and retraining of community members and awareness creation and sensitization of community members. It was revealed that, these efforts resulted to many improvements such as increased enrolments of children in schools; improved health care service delivery; and increased agricultural yields. The research has shown that, beneficiaries provide water; labour and venue during execution of community development efforts. The study identified problems militating against smooth running of NGOs activities: inadequate funds and personnel; low level of beneficiaries 'commitments; and low level of government support. It was recommended that, government, individuals and development partners should provide more financial, technical and human resources support to NGOs in order to make them effective and efficient in delivery of community development services.

The study examined the marketing margin of soyabeans marketers in Benue State, Nigeria. A sampling frame of 914 registered soyabeans marketers was obtained from soyabeans marketers association in the study area. Stratified random sampling techniques was employed to obtain 278 market actors (producer-marketers, wholesalers and retailers) for the study. Data were collected with the use of a well structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The result on market conduct, showed that all the respondents (100 %) agreed that they sold their soyabeans immediately after harvest, they rely on family or personal savings for business finance, they do not advertise their soyabeans for sell and they have not attended any training on soyabeans. The result further showed a marketing margin of N88.91, N85.78 and N85.99 respectively. The major problems faced by soyabeans marketers in the study area include inadequate capital, high transportation cost, lack of access to credit facilities, heavy imposition of taxes or levies and poor storage and warehousing facilities. It was recommended that soyabeans marketers in the study area should form cooperative society to have access to loan from both formal and informal sources for better capital base and higher output. In conclusion soyabeans marketing is a profitable and efficient business, with attractive net return on investment in the study area.

This paper studies the pressure experienced by livestock systems in a mountain municipality in south-east Albania in accessing pasture, due to the recent process of State decentralization and municipal pasture management. Pastures are major resource for the development of livestock farming activities in this area. The main hypothesis discussed in this article is that the lack of transitional institutions capable of properly applying the new government regulations on pasture access has created pressure on local farmers. This can cause problems of overgrazing if governance rules are not improved and adapted to the local context. By using a mixed approach combining qualitative and quantitative data through interviews with national and local stakeholders, documents and field observation, the discussion compares different parameters affecting the livestock systems in terms of access to pastureland. The case study highlights the complexities of pasture governance, due to the coexistence of different models of ownership and management. The findings indicate that the governmental regulation of pastures increased competition for their availability and access. Securing rights of use for local farmers will be crucial to ensure the sustainable management of pastures in the long term.

The study investigated the socioeconomic characteristics of small ruminant farmers, profitability and militating factors affecting small ruminant production in Ondo State, SouthWest , Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to sample Two Hundred respondents (200) from the four Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) Zones in the study area, in which 25 farmers were randomly selected from 8 different communities. The respondents were accessed and interviewed using a wellstructured questionnaire and interview guide, and data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages, budgetary analysis and 4-Point Likert type scale. Findings revealed that 60.5% of the respondents were practising semi-intensive management systems, goats were the commonest animals reared by the farmers. The Return on Investment (ROI) was found to be 1.54 which implies that small ruminant producers will realize 1.54 on each naira expended, the gross margin and net farm income shows N253, 692.39 and N204, 327.08 respectively, Expense Structure Ratio (ESR) of 0.42 and gross ratio (0.45) which also revealed that total revenue accrued from small ruminant production is greater than total cost expended in the course of the business by 55. The study as well identified inadequate capital and high-interest rate of capital as the two most challenging constraints faced by the small ruminant farmers in the study area. Results obtained indicated that small ruminant production is a profitable venture mostly managed under the Semi-Intensive system and requires adequate capital for proper management of the animals.

Tempe is a typical Indonesian food made fermented soybeans. Tempe is a good source of nutrition because it contains protein, carbodydrates, fat, vitamins and minerals needed by the body. Soybean used to make tempe must be of good quality. Pliken Village is a tempe production center, because it has the highest number of tempe craftsmen in Banyumas Regency. With the increase in soybean prices which have continued to increase lately, the tempe business has decreased due to lack of capital to continue the business. The purpose of this research are to: 1). Knowing the amount of costs, revenues and income before and after increase in soybean prices in the tempe production business in Pliken Village. 2). Knowing the factors that affect the increase in tempe production costs. The researh was carried out in Pliken Village from May 2021 to July 2021. The target of this research is the tempe craftsmen of Pliken Village who produce for one month. The sampling method uses simple random sampling ...

Loan acquisition and repayment among small scale rice farmers in Ebonyi State, Nigeria was investigated. The study determined the quantum of loan sourced and acquired by small scale rice farmers; ascertained the determinants of successful loan acquisition from formal financial institutions; estimated the repayment rates among the beneficiaries; and analyzed factors that affect loan repayment performance of the beneficiaries. A multistage simple random sampling technique was adopted in the selection of the respondents. Primary data were generated through the use of well structured questionnaire admitted to 120 small scale rice farmer beneficiaries. Descriptive statistics, multiple regression and logit regression model were employed in data analysis. Analysis revealed that each of the farmers applied for an average amount of N170,173.40 but was able to procure an average amount of N128, 557.40. Furthermore, multiple regression result indicated that farm size, cost of farm inputs and interest charge were significant in determining loan acquisition. An average of 28% of respondents defaulted in loan repayment. The logit regression indicated that farming experience, income, interest charge, loan application cost, loan size, security and number of installments were found to have played significant role in loan repayment performance. The study therefore, recommended that a sustainable credit policy framework be established by relevant agencies to enable farmers access adequate loan amount at reduced interest rate and also on time from formal financial institutions.

This work presents productive and reproductive results of the simulations made with an extensive livestock farm model on basaltic soils. The scenari were constructed varying the initial grass height (GH) and the system stocking rate (SR). The model is chaotic, dynamic, empirical and deterministic. It was built in a participatory way with a group of local stakeholders of the basaltic region of the country (Uruguay). A simplified version of it was utilized, where only one parcel and only one animal category were simulated each time. No adaptive management was implemented into the simulation process. These models represent a Breeding (Br) and a Rearing (Re) extensive systems, where the exclusive feed source is the natural pasture. All scenari were simulated with average pasture growth, estimated by satellite remote sensing for the series 2000-2010, for a representative farm basaltic region. Annual results of pregnancy rate and live weight gain per animal were the two main outputs analy...

Las particularidades de los sistemas productivos ovinos predominantes (sistemas extensivos sobre pastizales naturales) hacen que el producto "cordero fresco" se genere desde el mes de diciembre hasta mayo. A partir de este momento la provisión de carne de cordero es bajo la forma de congelado. Esta presentación del producto tiene una menor aceptación por el consumidor, además de un incremento en su precio debido a los costos de conservación (cámaras de frío, envasados al vacío, etc).

This work presents productive and reproductive results of the simulations made with an extensive livestock farm model on basaltic soils. The scenari were constructed varying the initial grass height (GH) and the system stocking rate (SR). The model is chaotic, dynamic, empirical and deterministic. It was built in a participatory way with a group of local stakeholders of the basaltic region of the country (Uruguay). A simplified version of it was utilized, where only one parcel and only one animal category were simulated each time. No adaptive management was implemented into the simulation process. These models represent a Breeding (Br) and a Rearing (Re) extensive systems, where the exclusive feed source is the natural pasture. All scenari were simulated with average pasture growth, estimated by satellite remote sensing for the series 2000-2010, for a representative farm basaltic region. Annual results of pregnancy rate and live weight gain per animal were the two main outputs analy...

This study analysed crop diversification among rural farm households in Kwande Local Government Area of Benue State, Nigeria. The study drew a sample of 360 rural farm households through a multi-stage sampling technique from 12 communities in four districts of Kwande LGA (Ikyurav-ya, Turan, Nanev and Shangev-ya) and the primary data obtained were analysed using the descriptive statistics, Simpson index and Tobit regression model. Results indicated that an average farm household head was 42.8 years old and had 4.2 years of schooling. Ninety three percent (93 %) of the farm households diversified their cropping activities with 51.7 percent diversified into three or more crops. The Tobit regression results revealed that there w ere marginal increases in crop diversification with increase in farm size, gender, access to credit, membership of cooperative and educational level but crop diversification decreases as farmers grow older in age and farming experience. Policy implication s were drawn for provision of functional social amenities and encouragement of the rural farmers to join cooperative societies for easy access to loans that promote crop diversification and hence improve the standard of living of the rural populace.