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It has been argued that gender affects climate change response especially among farming communities yet literature is scant on gender perspectives of response. In recognition of this, the study examined responses with the associated challenges and opportunities across gender in the South East (SE) Nigeria. A mixed research approach including a participatory research approach (PRA), field observation and household questionnaire survey was used to collect data. The survey sample included 300 (150 men and women each) farm household heads from six villages in the region. Data were analyzed and presented using principal component analysis (PCA), non-parametric and descriptive statistics. The study found that men and women-headed households differed in their use of strategies like migration from affected areas and livelihood diversification (p < 0.05). Women have more challenges of insufficient improved farming knowledge than men. The challenges for men were majorly insufficient technologies like mechanization. Components of these challenges include technology, environmental-related challenges among others. Response opportunities for men and women include digital/mobile telecommunications and learning by doing respectively. Compared to men, women had less participation in opportunities for the development of human capital through training (p < 0.05). The study recommends that more opportunities should be provided for the training of farmers especially women on climate change response., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Contrary to the expectations of promoters of organic agriculture, the adoption of the technology by smallholder farmers in Africa has been low and slow, for reasons not well understood. Existing studies on the topic mostly estimated the effect of some variables on the adoption of the technology. But adoption is characterized by complex and dynamic interactions of many interconnected factors, which existing studies overlooked. The underlying causal structures and feedback mechanisms that dynamically interact to affect the adoption of organic farming in urban and rural Africa are also not well known. To bridge these gaps, we used a system dynamics tool called participatory causal loop diagraming to map the underlying causal factors and feedback mechanisms driving the adoption of organic farming in rural and urban Nigeria. We conducted loop and network analyses of the group causal loop diagrams, which were created during the participatory system dynamics modeling workshops with the organic farmers in our study areas. Our findings underscore the importance of the knowledge of organic farming, demand- and supply-side-oriented awareness creation, and the economic viability of organic farming for widespread adoption of the technology. We suggested the potential leverages around which interventions can be built to boost the adoption rates of the technology., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

This paper examined scientific skills and concept learning by rural women for personal and national development. The research design employed was a quasi-experimental, one-group pre-test and post-test design. A non-formal science program package to enhance and empower the rural women's knowledge and skills in their daily activities (nutrition, sanitation, health, agriculture, and water use) was designed and validated by three experts from the Science Education Department of a University. The reliability coefficient was 0.80, and the program was taught for 6 weeks to the rural women to determine its effect on the rural women's skills and knowledge in the five variables considered. The results showed that there was appreciable improvement on their skills and knowledge in health, water use, nutrition, sanitation, and agriculture. This supports the study of Nnachi (2008) who was of the opinion that training and practice increased rural women's skills. Based on these findings, the researchers recommended that rural women should be empowered by science education for maximum productivity, self, and national development.

Background: Yellow pepper production is the major farming activities of women in Nsukka senatorial zone of Enugu state of Nigeria. The main sources of irrigation for this group of farmers are tanks and under-ground tanks that are artificially supplied with water in their different farms, since natural sources of water are not always available. These women mostly use their buckets or other containers to fetch water from tanks. They continually monitor the water level of their tanks in all their farms to know the best time to refill those tanks and also, they irrigate their crops manually. With the continuous demand of this variety of pepper, this current approach is quite challenging, not sustainable and highly labour intensive. Hence, there is an urgent need to boost production and address those challenges and difficulties associated with the current irrigation method through Internet of Things and other innovative techniques. The aim of this paper is to use a smart system to monitor and control soil moisture, temperature and water level in the tank. The paper equally aims at detecting the location of the farm where tank that is to be refilled is placed. Methods: Simulation and experimental methodology was employed in this research. The components of the proposed system include sensors, GSM, GPS, water pumps and microcontroller. Ultrasonic sensor monitors the water level in the tank, moisture and temperature sensors monitor the soil moisture and temperature, water pump sprinkles water on the crops, GPS provides the location of the tank, GSM sends message when the need arises while the microcontroller takes decision and coordinates the functioning of the entire system. Result: The research produced a system prototype that monitors and controls the usage of water on yellow pepper crops and refilling of water tank in the farm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examined the differential item functioning of National Examinations Council (NECO) Agricultural Science multiple choice test items (2015-2017) in South East Zone. The study adopted descriptive survey research design and ex-Post-Facto research design. Two null hypotheses were formulated and test in the study. The population of the study consisted of 10, 194 Agricultural Science students. Sample size of 728 Agricultural Science Senior Secondary School students (SSS III) were proportionately drawn from the 72 selected secondary schools that constituted the sample size of the study. A multi-stage sampling technique was used for the study. The instrument used for data collection was NECO paper III questions constructed in 2015-2017.The instrument was re-validated by experts in Educational Measurement and Evaluation and Agricultural Extension Education. The data obtained was analysed using Kuder Richardson Formular 20 with reliability indices of 0.76. Data obtained for the study were analyzed using the Scheuneman modified Chi-square statistic to analyze all the research questions and chi-square statistic was employed in testing the null hypotheses. Results showed that that Agricultural Science multiple-choice test items used in NECO 2015-2017, contain test items that significantly functioned differentially for testees on the basis of gender and that there was no significant difference between male and female students on the percentage of items which functioned differentially in the 2015-2017 NECO Agricultural Science multiple choice test examination. It was thus recommended among others that test experts and developers should consider the use of Scheuneman modified chi-square in determining differential item functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effect of government expenditure on agricultural sector in Nigeria using the Johansen cointegration and Vector error correction model approaches. Specifically, the paper examines the relationships between government expenditure on agriculture subsector outputs for crop, livestock, fishing and forestry over the period 1980 to 2019. The results of the short run and long run analyses indicate the significant influence of government expenditure in agriculture on agricultural outputs except in forestry subsector. The granger causality test result indicates the absence of causality relationship between agricultural expenditure and agriculture outputs except in crop and livestock subsectors. However, there is a strong unidirectional causality from agricultural credit to both aggregated and disaggregated agricultural outputs. The paper recommends the need to increase government expenditure on agriculture in order to boost productivity. Government should also assist farmers to access credit facilities which can help increase production in the agricultural sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using primary data, the study analyzes the factors that affect cassava farmers' production in Oyo state, Nigeria, using cross-sectional data obtained from 330 cassava farmers through a multistage sample and a well-structured questionnaire. Data collected was analyzed using inferential statistics (Cobb Douglas production model analysis) using software for statistical analysis (STATA). The empirical results of the analysis revealed that farming experience was positively significant at (β= 0.220, p<0.01), farm size (β= 0.504, p<0.01), age of respondents (β= 0.188, p<0.01), credit (β = 0.182, p<0.01), mode of cultivation (β = 0.05, p<0.01), cassava stem used (β = 0.069, p<0.01) respectively, except land used duration which was negatively signed and significant (β = -0.164, p<0.01) to cassava productivity. The F Statistics was 71.420 and R² of 0.781 obtained indicated that the explanatory variables explained 78% level of variation in cassava output. The study therefore confirmed that all the significant variables were the major determinant of cassava farmers' productivity in the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assessed the determinants of the strategies adopted by the arable crop farmers in coping with climate change in Osun state, Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique was used to select 120 arable crop farmers as samples for the study. Data for the study were collected with a structured interview schedule. Data were analysed with descriptive and inferential statistical tools; frequency distributions, means, standard deviation, percentages, and Pearson's Product Moment Correlation (PPMC). Descriptive results reveal that most (87.5%) of the sampled farmers were male, and married (63.00%). The average age, household size, and years of formal education were 53.6 years, 10.15 persons, and 5.20 years respectively. Perceived significant variables influencing climate change were fluctuating rainfall patterns and extreme temperature with weighted mean scores (WMS) of 4.55 and 4.47 respectively. The major climate change adaptation strategy and constraint to adaptation were late or early planting, and unavailability of capital with WMS scores of 4.54 and 2.80 respectively. Significant factors influencing climate change adaptation strategies were age, household size, years of formal education, and farming experience. The study concluded that farmers were aware of the effects of climate change and have adopted coping strategies, especially planting their crops early or late in line with emerging rainfall patterns. Thus, extension services must be tailored towards awareness and adoption of improved agronomy practices and planting materials, especially early maturing and drought-resistant varieties of crops that would mitigate climate change effects on crop productivity. Also, farmers should be encouraged to insure their crops against failure due to the effects of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Nigerian food system is facing major challenges with high population growth, a high number of people living in extreme poverty, rapid urbanization, and stagnating agricultural productivity. Socioeconomic status is a key indicator of the Nigerian food system. This paper aims to examine the impact of COVID-19 on Nigerian food systems. These reviews were obtained from white papers written by organizations like the United Nations (UN), and other studies on food systems, agriculture, and the socioeconomic status of Nigerians concerning the COVID-19 pandemic were reviewed. In recent years, the world has recorded several incidences of disasters that have disrupted the food system, leading to evidence of food insecurity. The most recent is the outbreak of COVID-19, which is more than just a disease. It resulted in the combined disruption of global economic and social stability. The food system and all that is dependent on it were severely affected by COVID-19. The global situation of poverty and malnutrition was exacerbated as a result of the direct and indirect impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a phone interview, it was recorded that 37% of Nigerian households experienced a drastic drop in income, pushing many to the brink or into the threshold of poverty. Many of the Nigerians interviewed agreed that the quantity and quality of their diet had diminished in comparison to the same period in the previous year. Another survey in Nigeria reported that 23.8% of its respondents reduced the portion of their meals, 20.8% reduced their frequency from 3 to 2 meals per day, and 13.8% substituted highly nutritious foods with less nutritious and cheaper ones to cope with hunger during the Pandemic. To cushion the impact of COVID-19 on Nigeria's food systems, there is a need to reinforce the existing incentives for restructuring Nigeria's economy away from reliance on oil. Further, remittances from other countries would also contribute towards the development of local sectors such as agriculture and food manufacturing companies, which can generate employment and feed Nigeria's growing population. Also, the development of the agro-food system will necessitate investments in research and rural infrastructure. In this way, federal and state policies can aid recovery from COVID-19 and help Nigeria build more resilient food systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The farming population in the rural areas of Nigeria is in continuous decline due to ageing and the rural-urban migration of the youth in search of education and modernity for a presumably better life style. The governments at national, states and local government areas levels have ill-conceived and ill-operated many agricultural mechanization schemes/programmes extended only to arable crops production and complete exclusion of livestock production, though with the right intentions of mitigating the effects of the scare of drudgery associated with tillage, cereal grains threshing, etc and also for the expansion of production in agriculture. The scare of hard labour is not helped by absence of modern amenities in the rural areas. The "skeletal" appellation is due to the schemes' great limitation to very narrow aspect of farm mechanization and coincidentally, this study has been limited to South of Taraba State which lies within the Guinea Savannah geographical area of Nigeria. The method adopted is use of structured questionnaire administered by paid agricultural extension agents who were able to have good interactions with the farmers and governments' machinery service centres (Tractor Hire Units) operators/managers. Descriptive analysis was adopted for the discussion. The outcome reveals a negligible impact of less than 6 % admitted by only 4.6 % of the respondents; and great dissatisfaction among farmers, greed and incompetence among operators as well as bad technical quality plus inappropriate and incomplete machines and implements provided by the governments. This paper highlights points missed by government as well as the areas of abuses due to corrupt tendencies and usual Nigerian factor. The paper ends with call on the government to change the ways the programmes are pursued so as to improve on the situation in view of the food supply and climate change threats to humanity and its possessions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper dealt on empirical trend analysis of interest rate and value of agricultural finance in Nigeria between 1986 and 2017. It was the specific objectives of the study to: describe trends of interest rate and value of formal agricultural funding in Nigeria for the period 1986– 2017; determine the path of progress of interest rate and value of formal agricultural finance in Nigeria for the period under review; compare rate of growth of interest rate and value of formal agricultural funding in Nigeria within the reference period; and analyze trend of interest rate in Nigeria within the reference period; explain the cause and effect relationship of interest rate and value of formal agricultural finance in Nigeria within the reference period. Secondary data was used for the study and these were subjected to descriptive statistics and econometric analysis. However, the trend revealed a persistent increase in the interest rate between 1986 and 1998 coinciding with the Structural Adjustment Policy era. The interest rate then dropped slightly between 2000 and 2006 and then began to trend upwards from 2007 to 2017. These are manifestation of volatility of interest rate to agricultural funding. In overall status, interest rate exhibited negative non-considerable trend while volume of formal agricultural finance exhibited positive trend within period 1986- 2017 in Nigeria. The study therefore recommended that the monetary authorities in Nigeria should maintain a stable interest rate policy to ensure that adequate formal financing flow from banks to the agricultural sector. Commercial banks should concentrate on mobilizing savings by charging lower interest rate and providing handsome return to depositors which would increase funds flow and make it available for formal financing of agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender inequality is one of the main drivers of food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa, as it is the main threat to the agricultural production activities of women due to climate change. The interplay between gender and vulnerability to the impacts of climate change especially on agriculture and food security in Nigeria is poorly documented. Through a systematic review, this paper investigated the interplay between gender and the impact of climate change vulnerability on agriculture and food security in Nigeria. The review was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA approach. The results document that gender issues are poorly addressed in research on vulnerability to climate change impacts on agriculture with implications for food security in Nigeria. More importantly, the existing studies are limited in number with little focus on food security in relation to vulnerability. Moreover, the majority of these studies conceptualized gender in terms of two sexes: male and female. Only a few studies have considered gender as the socio-cultural roles played by men and women. Findings also indicated that women are more vulnerable to the effects of climate change impacts on agriculture and food security than men. Besides, several factors have contributed to these gender inequalities including education, age, access to land etc. Gaps in gender research include the limited gender studies in the Northern region of the country, the little conceptualization of gender as the sociocultural roles of men and women with regards to the vulnerability to climate change impact on agriculture and food security; the long-term impacts of vulnerability to climate change on social cohesion in rural households and the sustainability of strategies to reduce rural women's vulnerability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assessed crop farmers' access and utilization of climate information services (CIS) and impact of CIS use on crop yields in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. The multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 405 farmers from the State, and data were collected through a survey of the farmers using a questionnaire. We employed descriptive statistics, endogenous treatment effect, and Heckman probit selection model to analyze the data collected. The result indicates that a majority (89%) of the farmers accessed climate information and that the common sources of climate information include agricultural extension officers, fellow farmers, and radio. This study shows that 88% of the farmers used climate information services in making farming decisions. Farmers' age, household size, marital status, farming experience, income extension contact, ownership of television, ownership of radio, ownership of mobile phone, proximity to the market, workshop/training participation, climate events experienced, and knowledge of appropriate application of fertilizer significantly influenced both access and utilization of CIS. The use of CIS in planning for farming activities significantly increased rice, maize, and cassava yields. The study demonstrates the important contribution of climate information services in crop production. We therefore recommend that access and use of climate information services in agricultural communities should be increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digitalization of agriculture has been identified as panacea to the problem of food security to teeming population, although its uses for agricultural extension services is still evolving and challenging among extension professionals. This study examined the opportunities and challenges of using AI-based digital tools for agricultural extension services in Nigeria; the study described the socioeconomic characteristics of extension professionals and identified the effects of its usage on extension service delivery. An online questionnaire was used to gather primary data from 131 agricultural extension professionals drawn across the states in Nigeria. Frequency counts, percentages and means were used to analyse and summarize the data collected. The result reveals that majority (75.6%) were male with a mean age of 48.1±15.8 years. The respondents mostly identified provision for real-time insights into the farms and landscape (97.7%) and provision of reliable farm data (75.6%) as the major opportunities for AI-based Digital tools for agricultural extension service, while lengthy technology adoption Process (94.7%) and higher technical skills (70.2%) were the major challenges identified with the use of AI-based digital tools for agricultural extension services by the respondents. The study also reveals that respondents mostly indicated timely enhancement of communication (88.5%) and provision of an update on best practices globally (64.1%) as the key effects of AIbased digital for agricultural extension services. The study recommends that capacity building of extension professionals and farmers; involvement of farmers and other agriculture value chain stakeholders in the development of digital technologies; as well as provision of digital infrastructures and enablers which are germane for digitalization and utilisation of AI-based digital tools for agricultural extension service delivery in Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates possibilities of reducing production inefficiency using same input vector. Firms mostly suffer technical inefficiency in their production. Producers are found to operate below the frontier. Hence, empirical measures of production efficiencies are necessary to determine the inefficiency level, magnitude of inefficiency reduction, and gains that could be obtained by improving performance in the sector. The study used secondary data collected from Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) database. The dataset covers the period 1960-2021. Variables extracted included agricultural GDP (kg), fertiliser usage (kg), agricultural labour(man-days), and number of tractors (No). The data were subjected to a unit root test for stationarity, and a stochastic frontier production/Cost function model were applied to determine technical inefficiency of variables in the model. The result of unit root shows that series are integrated of the first order I (1). AIC criteria indicate an optimal lag length of two years, while the Unrestricted Co-integration Trace and Maximum Eigenvalue test show strong evidence of long-run relationship amongst variables. The parameters of Stochastic Frontier Production Function estimated were positively consistent with the study's a priori expectation for such variables as fertiliser (0.2634), labour (0.3159), land (0.1846), and tractor (0. 1587). Output-oriented technical efficiency is 0.7802 (78%) and 22% is technically inefficient. A decreasing returns to scale value of (0.9226) with a scale effect of 0.9226. The sector is 58% economically efficient with cost savings of 42% and 75% allocative efficiency. This study concludes that Nigeria's agriculture suffers from production inefficiencies and this inefficiency can be reduced by using the same input levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has unleashed negative economic consequences on the global economies and Nigeria inclusive. In response, Nigeria has launched the Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP) to leverage the potential gains of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA) to accelerate agricultural performance in the post-COVID-19 era. Thus, this paper investigated the potential impact of AfCFTA on the performance of the agricultural sector in Nigeria in the post-COVID-19 era focusing on Agricultural output, trade and employment within the framework of a small macro-econometric model. The study used secondary data from 1970 to 2018 for a within-sample forecast and a twelve-year out-of-sample forecast spanning from 2019 to 2030. Two simulation experiments based on AfCFTA tariff reduction lines were conducted. Findings revealed that with tariff reduction under the AfCFTA, there is an increase in agricultural output, exports, employment, and the share of agriculture to GDP growth, as well as actual private consumption in Nigeria. The study concludes that if the AfCFTA is implemented, it will boost agricultural sector performance in Nigeria during the post-COVID-19 era. Based on these findings, the study recommended that the country implement mechanisms to overcome the challenges militating against agricultural production and exports in the economy to maximize the potential gains that AfCFTA provides. The government should also streamline its expenditures and invest hugely in infrastructural facilities such as roads, electricity, and expansion of sea-port facilities, communication networks and earth-dams to encourage dry-season farming activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greenhouse (GH) technology has been employed in the production of selected crops under a controlled environment for maximum yield. Most often, flowers, medicinal plants and short-duration arable crops are most favoured for cultivation in greenhouses for research and commercial production purposes. Greenhouse is beginning to gain acceptance and usage in crop production in Nigeria in particular. This paper focused on the: origin of greenhouse, type of GH, general research trend in GH development/technology, adaptable irrigation type for GH farming, design criteria for GH, trends in smart GH/farming and GH development and utilization across the globe to produce food crops sufficiently and for future food scarcity. Site selection is a key factor for profitable and sustainable greenhouse production where factors like climate, topography, irrigation water, soil characteristics, flooded areas, air pollution, expansion, labour availability, communications network and orientation affect the utilization of greenhouses for research and production purposes. The types, styles, materials selection and uses, sizes of greenhouses, should be considered in conjunction with factors that determine the siting of greenhouses. Existing localized irrigation methods commonly utilized for crop cultivation include surface (Sprinkler), subsurface (Drip, emitter). The selection of types of GH and irrigation method depends on influencing factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the extensive literature on rural poverty outcome, the labour employment channel has not been carefully investigated for rural Nigeria. The paper used the socioeconomic data from the three waves of the Nigerian General Household Survey Panel (2010/2011, 2012/3013 and 2015/2016 to examine the nature of household employment. By exploiting the panel nature of the data, we used a logit model and fixed effect approach to analyze the factors determining the employment expansion and earnings. From the descriptive statistics, agricultural employment sectoral share remains substantial but declined over the period considered. The study finds that much of the employment in rural Nigeria during the period 2010 to 2015 is farm self-employment. Though declining, it is two times the non-farm employment share and five times wage employment share. Wage employment is least and declining during the period covered. Findings from the econometric analysis suggest rural programmes that promote rural infrastructural, human capital development, networking, higher income and the diversity of income. It is an imperative policy goal to create an enabling environment for productivity and employment-intensive growth across all sectors of the economy particularly in agriculture.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying suitable watersheds is a prerequisite to operationalizing planning interventions for agricultural development. With the help of geospatial tools, this paper identified suitable watersheds across Nigeria using biophysical parameters to aid agricultural planning. Our study included various critical thematic layers such as precipitation, temperature, slope, land-use/land-cover (LULC), soil texture, soil depth, and length of growing period, prepared and modeled on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. Using expert knowledge, scores were assigned to these thematic layers, and a priority map was prepared based on the combined weighted average score. We also validated priority watersheds. For this, the study area was classified into three priority zones ranging from 'high' to 'low'. Of the 277 watersheds identified, 57 fell in the high priority category, implying that they are highly favorable for interventions. This would be useful for regional-scale water resource planning for agricultural landscape development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic recession often exacerbates the effects of poverty on agrarian communities in Nigeria. This paper examined the effects of economic recession on female farmers and coping strategies they employed. It explored the effects of the crisis on their income, farm size, livelihood and welfare aspects such as feeding, schooling of their children and health care. The study was conducted in Ondo State, Nigeria. Primary data were used. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to administer 100 copies of the questionnaires on females in rural agrarian households in the study area. The obtained data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square and Likert scale analysis. The findings showed that the economic recession resulted in poor health care, inadequate feeding, poor income and school dropouts. Major factors that helped the women to cope were land ownership security/access to land, introduction of new crops, marital status and educational status. These factors are crucial as their Chi-square values and Likelihood Ratios were significant at one percent probability level (P < 0.01). The research concludes that educated females as well as married women and women possessing secured land tenure coped better in times of economic crisis. The paper thus recommends increased investments by governments in the agricultural sector to help curtail the inflation in food prices and increasing women access to land and education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ekonomika APK is the property of Economy of Argo-Industrial Complex and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose – Poverty reduction remains one of the main goals of development efforts, as evidenced by the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals by most developing countries and international agencies. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between trade (exports) and employment and how the relationship reduces poverty through the instrumentality of employment, with a focus on Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes the form of descriptive analysis. Findings – Evaluating the case for Nigeria, the authors find that oil exports which drives economic growth do not provide the needed employment to reduce poverty, while agricultural trade, particularly exports, are capable of reducing poverty and inequality in Nigeria through the channel of employment and agricultural productivity growth. Originality/value – The paper makes a link between export trade, employment and poverty reduction in Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite women's substantial participation and productive inputs, their role in broiler production has often being underestimated or ignored by the society. This study was conducted to provide information on the gap that existed on the management technologies observed by the male and female disparity. This study examined gender analysis of broiler production management practices, profitability and constraints. A sample size of 104 respondents was used by the multistage sampling procedure. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The major findings were, the mean age for the males and females were 45 years and 43 years with majority of the females acquiring higher education than the males. The stock size for the male and female practitioners was 185 birds and 327 birds with mean income of N122, 880.86 and N172, 221.72. There was insufficient access to extension services and credit by the practitioners. The predominant management practices adopted were vaccinated by male (93.2 %) and female (100.0%); feeding practices male (84.7%) and female (100.0%) whereas, biosecurity and waste recycle were least adopted. Respondents' best reasons for adopting of broiler management practices increased profits of male (96.6%) and female (95.6%). The male and female respondents realized a profit of N340, 154.24 and N433, 991.01 respectively. The most serious constraint experienced by both was price fluctuation (male = 86.4% and female =80.0%). The results showed relationship between the farming experience, extension access, insurance and bird age and adoption. We concluded that adopting the identified broiler management practices by the practitioners could improve production and income. This study revealed that females performed better than males in the adoption of broiler management technologies. The provision of credit, extension and insurance services and improvement in management practices can address the serious constraints faced by broiler production practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Review of African Political Economy is the property of Review of Political Economy (ROAPE) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Africa's food systems are among the most vulnerable sectors to climate risk. Unfortunately, numerous activities along food supply chains (production, processing, storage, marketing and consumption) are also important contributors to climate change. Despite the differential effect of climate events on activities along food supply chains and vice versa, most climate change perception studies in agriculture focus on producers, particularly crop farmers. This study adopts a value chain perspective to examine climate change perceptions among economic agents all along the maize-poultry value chain in Nigeria. We find that economic agents perceive those climate events that have a direct effect on their economic activity and this is not restricted to crop farmers. We also find that very few actors along the maize-poultry value chain believe that their economic activity negatively affects the environment and contributes to climate change. Though African countries might currently not be major contributors to climate change, this indicates a need for more awareness among economic agents about the effects of various agriculture-related activities on the environment and their contributions to climate change to encourage practices and technologies that can reduce agriculture's negative effect on the environment and contribution to climate change., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This paper examines whether technology and energy have a role to play in agriculture value addition in nine sub-Saharan African countries for a sample period between 1981 and 2015. We employ the Autoregressive Distributed Lag modelling technique to examine the relationship among the variables. Models with technology, energy use, and a combination of technology and energy were considered, respectively. Only Nigeria recorded a positive and significant impact of technology on its agricultural value addition in both the short run and long run in the first model. In the second model, energy use positively and significantly influenced agricultural value addition in two countries (Botswana and South Africa) in the short run. However, the long-run coefficients of energy use were found to be positive and significant for Benin and South Africa. In the third model, short-run coefficients of technology were largely positive but statistically insignificant across the countries, while its long-run coefficient was largely positive but only statistically significant for Nigeria. Also, the short-run effect of energy use remained positively significant for Botswana and South Africa as observed in the earlier model. However, its long-run effect was only positive and statistically significant in three countries (Benin, South Africa, and Togo). Thus, the study recommends the need for huge investment in technology and energy use as well as the sensitisation of local farmers in adopting technology to further enhance the quality of their output. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on agriculture, which is the main source of economic growth in many West African countries. In recent years, conventional agriculture has undergone a remarkable evolution and digital technologies are widely used for different purposes. While the world is rapidly using advanced digital technologies to grow their agriculture, Africa seems to be lagging behind, especially West Africa. To know how to contribute effectively, it is important to know what is being performed about this issue. The objective of this study is to examine the state of digital agriculture in five countries, namely, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, and Nigeria. The study consisted of an analysis of the scientific contributions of these countries and the cases of actual deployment. This is carried out by means of a bibliometric study based on data collected from the Web of Science and a comparative review of the technologies used in the target countries using data from several sources, such as IEEE, Scopus, Science Direct, Google Scholar, etc. The bibliometric analysis based on 3249 publications revealed that research interests have increased significantly since 2014. Climate change, machine learning (ML), and adoption have been the hottest topics of discussion and most of the organizations working on the topic are academic bodies. Moreover, a considerable amount of the scientific input was obtained from Nigeria, which is the most populous of the five countries considered. The survey on digital farming showed that publications in Nigeria that address deployment cases were focused on the internet of things (IoT), wireless sensor networks, blockchain, and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. In Ghana, practical cases of blockchain, AI, and big data deployment were observed, while Burkina Faso focused on IoT and AI. In Côte d'Ivoire and Benin, the deployment cases generally focused on AI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focused on redefining agricultural extension practice in Nigeria in response to the challenges of climate change. We reviewed 58 articles from research databases that were in line with our inclusion criteria for adequate understanding of the current state of agricultural extension practice in Nigeria and climate change concerns. The review identified the effects of climate change on agricultural extension practice, ascertained the training needs of agricultural extension workers towards climate change resilience, highlighted the strategies for repositioning the Nigerian agricultural extension system for climate change resilience and ascertained the opportunities and barriers for agricultural extension system towards building climate change resilience. Results show that climate change has adversely affected agricultural extension practice in Nigeria by worsening its operational environment. Changes in rainfall pattern have made it cumbersome for effective implementation of extension advice in real time. Training needs of extension workers for climate change resilience among others include the need to bridge digital divide, implementation of strategies for a better interface with development partners and optimization of the use indigenous mitigation strategies for climate change. The review recommends that essential strategies that must be in-cooperated in the extension service delivery in Nigeria should include adoption of new scenario thinking in communicating resilience building, establishment of emergency management unit by the agency, encouraging the involvement of the private sector in the extension service, transferring of research results on best affordable resilience practices to farmers as well as ensuring that government and other agencies are kept abreast with farmer's feedback on their challenges in building climate change resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the trends in crop diversification (CD) while examining its impact on the technical efficiency of peasant farmers in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach – The paper employs the Herfindahl and Ogive indices to compute the diversification indices and the stochastic frontier production model (SFPM) to estimate the technical efficiency (TE) level of the farms using unbalanced panel data covering three farming seasons (2006/2007 to 2008/2009). Findings – The results of both the Herfindahl and Ogive indices showed that cropping pattern increased significantly with the intensification of crop diversification in the study across the three seasons. The result of the SFPM shows evidence of decreasing returns-to-scale and technical progress in the food crop production in the region. Education, extension, and CD are identified as efficiency increasing policy variables while an average TE level of about 81 percent was obtained from the analysis. Originality/value – To the best of the author's knowledge, this the very first study that employs panel data to analyze technical efficiency of farms in Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Poverty is endemic in rural Nigeria and gender disparity in access to productive resources is a major cause of poverty in the area. Poverty status of rural households along gender line was, therefore, investigated in this study. Design/methodology/approach: Panel data from 2010/2011 (wave 1) and 2015/2016 (wave 3) of the Living Standard Measurement Survey (LSMS) for Nigeria were used for the study. Data were analysed using Foster, Greer and Thorbecke (FGT) poverty indices and binomial panel logistic model. Findings: Poverty measures for women-led households in farming activities were 58.5, 27.8 and 17.1%; men-led farming households had 59.8, 27.4 and 16.3% gender-neutral had 56.8%, 27 and 16.9% in the first panel. Poverty indices increased in the women-led and men-led farming households in the second panel. Poverty incidence was higher amongst farming households than the non-farming counterparts. Correlates of poverty status differ amongst the gender-groups were household size, farming, tertiary education, access to credit and geographical locations. Originality/value: Gender disparity is perceived in this study along the line of differences in gender composition of rural households. A gender-blind approach to poverty alleviation programmes likely will not enhance reduced poverty in rural Nigeria. Closing the gender poverty gap will ensure achievement of the first sustainable development goal of poverty eradication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding and identifying appropriate adaptation optons for cropping systems and management practices at spatial and temporal scales is an important prerequisite for scaling. Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L) R. Br.) could be regarded as a risk-reducing measure crop under climate change when coupled with tactical agronomic management practices. In this study, we assess the impacts of adaptation strategies such as cultivar type, planting windows, and fertilizer strategies on pearl millet production under rainfed farming systems over Nigeria and Senegal using the Agricultural Production Systems Simulator (APSIM) model. The impact of climate change on millet yield was evaluated using a validated APSIM-millet module that utilized yield data collected through participatory research and extension approach (PREA) in contrasting environments. The climate model projections for the mid-century period (2040-2069) were compared against a baseline period of 1980-2009 for both locations. During the simulation, two millet varieties (improved local and dualpurpose) with two sowing regimes were considered comparing traditional farmers' sowing window (dry sowing) and agronomic sowing window (planting based on the onset of the rainfall) at three different fertilizer levels [low (23 kg N ha-1), medium (40.5 kg N ha-1), and high (68.5 kg N ha-1) respectively]. The performance of the APSIM-millet module was found to be satisfactory as indicated by the low Root Means Square Error (RMSE) and Normalized Root Mean Square Error (NRMSE) values. The range for grain yield was between 17.7% and 25.8%, while for AGB it was between 18.6% and 21.4%. The results showed that farmers' sowing window simulated slightly higher grain yield than the agronomic sowing window for improved local millet cultivar indicating yield increased by 8-12%. However, the projected changes in the mid-century (2040- 2069) resulted in a decline in yield against baseline climate for both varieties and sowing windows, indicating the negative impact of climate change (CC) on yield productivity. The comparison between dual-purpose millet and improved local millet indicates that disseminating the improved millet variety and implementing early sowing could be an effective adaptation strategy in reducing risks and losses caused by climate change. Similarly, low magnitude impacts simulated on grain yield (< -8% in Nigeria compared to > -8% in Senegal) even though both locations are in the same agroecological zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovative urban farming is crucial for enhancing food security, nutrition, livelihood resilience, and environmental sustainability in Sub-Saharan African cities. However, agricultural policies and extension services often overlook urban contexts, presumably due to resource constraints. Yet, to improve productivity, understanding the challenges and opportunities of innovative urban farming is essential. Exploratory qualitative research, including focus group discussions, was conducted in, Lagos, Nigeria, to gather insights from stakeholders. The analysis, using mind maps and a consensus index, compared the perspectives of private urban farmers and public sector representatives. The urban farmers recognize the potential of circular agri-food technologies, like hydroponics, aquaponics, recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS), drip irrigation, sack farming, and waste upcycling, to boost productivity. However, the urban farmers perceive a lack of public sector support for these innovations. The public sector representatives see the problem as urban farmers' behavioral and educational shortcomings, particularly their lack of coordination and commitment to adopting innovations. These differing views highlight the complex dynamics between urban farmers and local agricultural policymakers. This study emphasizes the need for structural changes and local-level stakeholder dialogues for developing effective urban farming policies in Sub-Saharan Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite some improvements towards reducing hunger, malnutrition remains to be a crucial challenge in the developing world. The objective of this paper is to analyze the interplay between production diversity and dietary diversity across different seasons in rural Nigeria. The paper also investigates the relationship across different income quantiles., Method: The study uses the Living Standards Measurement Study - Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) dataset of the World Bank. We use two rounds of survey data (2010 and 2012) from Nigeria. Data were collected in two visits: at post-planting (from September to November), and at post-harvesting (from February to April). We analyze the relationship between production diversity and dietary diversity using different panel data regression tools., Result: In post-harvest season, an increase in farm production diversification is associated with an increase with dietary diversity. On the other hand, production diversification does not have a significant contribution to the dietary diversity at post-planting. The analysis reveals that production diversification leads to better diet diversity for households in the second and third income quantiles., Conclusion: Seasonal variation on the contribution of production diversification on dietary diversity in rural Nigeria calls for the role of seasonally targeted policies. A higher propensity of households in the poorest quantile for malnutrition irrespective of the season suggests the need for targeted and continuous public health and nutrition interventions.

Nigeria’s current economic plan targets diversification through leveraging the power of the private sector in order to enable and fast-track business investments and job creation. This paper reports a study of a model of a poultry outgrower scheme - Akwa Prime, used in catalysing private investments in the poultry sector of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The scheme shares the potential of combined strength of the state and that of the private sector in stimulating increased production and integrating of small livestock farmers to the national economy. The study’s specific objectives were to examine the extent of smallholder farmer involvement in contract negotiations including price setting; the role of the key participants, particularly the regulatory function of the state in an out-grower scheme construct; and the impact of the scheme on socioeconomic improvement of smallholder farmers. This research was conducted with 42 smallholder independent broiler poultry farmers who are registered members of the Akwa Prime outgrower scheme and receiving a range of input support and good production practices aimed at optimization. Findings show a positive impact of the scheme on small independent poultry farmers’ productivity, profitability and survival. Contract negotiations and key participants role were fully documented. Participating farmers were found to have high income and stocking density while the cost of day old chicks and other production inputs provided by the scheme accounted for 99.1% (R²=.991) of the variation in farmers income. This positive change on the bottom line of small independent poultry farmers indicate the prospects for greater deployment of out-grower model to stimulate agriculture productivity and growth. However, despite some benefits there were major bottlenecks including compromised role of the state, imposed buyback price on farmers and late offtaking of the finished stock. The implication of this finding is that small poultry farmers left alone with their independent business choices may not stimulate much diversification driven by agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The agricultural sector in Nigeria provides a socio-economic resource base for exiting pervasive poverty, and transforming the economy. However, with the challenges posed by climate change through variability in rainfall, the agricultural livelihoods and poverty status of the population could be threatened due to the vulnerability context of the country. This paper explores the relationship between rainfall and food poverty through the assessment of vulnerability to climate change in an agricultural economy by geo-referencing and mapping of rainfall variability and food poverty. It provides a quantification of the scale and location of the area under food poverty and rainfall variability with scenarios that provide alternative sustainable development pathways of desirable outcomes. The coefficients of variation of rainfall or precipitation seasonality were computed from geo-referenced data and topologically overlaid on the most recent food poverty profile for Nigeria. The findings reveal intriguing phenomena bordering on agro-climatic and socio-economic factors of climate change vulnerability. The findings provide a basis for policy formulation and implementation on inequity of food poverty and environmental sustainability. It offers empirical insights on how to rethink concepts of socio-economic and environmental sustainability through landscapes and livelihoods as outcomes of vulnerability contexts. The paper concludes that, there is need for agricultural transformation along vulnerability dimensions. The evidence of the nexus between rainfall and food poverty could be a new model for promoting sustainability of the agrarian economy in Nigeria. Highlights • Rainfall variability exacerbates food poverty in rain-fed agricultural-based economy. • Agroecological-based system of agricultural production enhances agricultural livelihoods and environmental resilience. • The nexus between precipitation and poverty has implications for landscape, livelihoods and sustainable agricultural development. • Strategic climate change adaptation policy should aim at improving food poverty situation, and boosting resilience through agroecological-based food production system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using household survey data from a sample of about 2305 households selected from eighteen states in Nigeria, this paper analyses the impact of irrigation technology usage on crop yield, crop income and household food security in Nigeria among smallholder farmers. The logistic regression estimate revealed that years of education, household size, rainfall information, access to credit, regional dummies are the main drivers of usage decision. The results of the linear regression with endogenous treatment effects showed that irrigation technology use is positively related to crop yield, crop income and household food security. In consistence, the impact analysis using propensity score matching (PSM) also showed a significant and positive effect of irrigation technology use on crop yield, crop income and household food security. We suggest to policy makers, implementers, and any funding agencies with similar interest to further capitalize and scale up the irrigation technology facilities, especially for the poor households, and create more awareness to improve the livelihood of rural households. However, despite the positive impact of irrigation technology use, we contend that other sustainable irrigation sources, such as rainwater harvesting should be used due to possible environmental impact in the excessive use of irrigation technology. Moreover, rained agriculture can be improved with other farming techniques such as agroforestry and soil and water conservation practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic affected economic, social, health, and political aspects of most global, national, and local populations, including urban and rural communities. Government measures like lockdowns resulted in the closure of schools and businesses, while social distancing preventing group gatherings impacted public and private spaces. Based on key informants' interviews with 36 participants drawn equally from three senatorial districts of Edo and Delta states of Nigeria, we analyzed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the type of work men and women do and division of household activities, such as cooking, child, and family care. The findings show that traditional gender role ideology (GRI) defines and shapes rural men's and women's work, with women more engaged in farming, rearing livestock, and trading while men are engaged in farming, rearing livestock, and carrying out skilled jobs like carpentry, plumbing, and blacksmithing. The lockdown of schools and workplaces resulted in women disproportionately bearing the burden of cooking and caring for children, the elderly, and the sick. A few rural men shared childcare, while women spent more time on housework and childcare activities than in the pre-pandemic period when children were in school for 6–7 h daily. During the pandemic, rural men and women spent more time with the children, such that rural women stayed at home or took children to the farms and marketplaces where possible. Older siblings and the elderly also provided support for women. In conclusion, work and family activities during COVID were, to an extent, difficult to manage as parents had to cope with increasing food insecurity, economic and transportation costs, and social deprivation fostered by social norms, values, and practices that perpetuate gender inequality and marginalization of women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the early 2000s, aquaculture in Nigeria has grown exponentially. African catfish aquaculture was a major contributor to this expansion. However, a fall in output started in 2015, mostly due to challenging economic conditions which affected farmer's profitability. This challenge has been exacerbated by the COVID‐19 pandemic. Notwithstanding, some catfish farms remained profitable. This study investigates the profitability strategies that aid farmers' resilience in times of both economic distress and COVID‐type shock. Data from 609 randomly sampled farms across the country were verified and included in the study covering 1118 operations for the pre‐COVID and COVID periods. Budgetary analysis was done, and stepwise regression was used to identify factors that most contribute to profitability. These factors were ranked by average profit per kilogram and grouped. The profitability during the periods was influenced by factors within the subcategories of scale of operation, experience, targeted markets, ownership, and pond type. Engagement in other agricultural ventures favored profitability during the COVID period. Profitable and non‐profitable groups were further characterized based on their technical and financial indicators. Explored strategies for profitability, including the operation scale, marketing tactics, cost‐cutting, and innovative production techniques all proved successful during economic distress and the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women remain a key driver of agricultural growth due to their large population and contribution to the farm labour force. Yet, these women are vulnerable to several menaces, such as food insecurity and poor well-being, that require them to participate in agricultural commercialisation. Identifying the drivers of market participation will inform them on where to channel their limited resources. Thus, this study assessed the market participation of women bambara nut farmers, its drivers, and its contribution to food security using crop output market participation share, ordered logit, binary logit and the USDA 18 food security questionnaire core module. The study found that smallholder women's market participation or commercialization ranges from 0 to 89.4% with an average of 54.53%, indicating a medium level of commercialization, and the smallholder women farmers have a 45.47% full commercialization gap. The significant factors responsible for their level of market participation were farm size, credit, cooperative membership, output, fertilizer usage, farm machinery, household size, and distance to market. Above half (56.67%) of them were food insecure. However, their food security level increases as the commercialization level increases, indicating that agricultural commercialisation improved household food security. Logistic regression results further revealed that agricultural commercialisation significantly enhanced household food security. The major constraints affecting women farmers are the high cost of inputs, low capital, poor access to credit, restrictions on land usage, poor agricultural pricing, a lack of modern storage facilities, and on-farm and post-harvest losses. These results necessitate the need to support smallholder women with credit, subsidized farm machinery, and fertilizer to promote commercialisation among them, which is needed to be food secure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of the review paper is to discuss how biotechnological innovations are opening new frontiers to mitigate nutrition in key agricultural crops with potential for large-scale health impact to people in Africa. The general objective of the Africa Biofortified Sorghum (ABS) project is to develop and deploy sorghum with enhanced pro-vitamin A to farmers and end-users in Africa to alleviate vitamin A-related micronutrient deficiency diseases. To achieve this objective the project technology development team has developed several promising high pro-vitamin A sorghum events. ABS 203 events are so far the most advanced and well-characterised lead events with about 12 μg β-carotene/g tissue which would supply about 40-50 % of the daily recommended vitamin A at harvest. Through gene expression optimisation other events with higher amounts of pro-vitamin A, including ABS 214, ABS 235, ABS 239 with 25, 30-40, 40-50 μg β-carotene/g tissue, respectively, have been developed. ABS 239 would provide twice recommended pro-vitamin A at harvest, 50-90 % after 3 months storage and 13-45 % after 6 months storage for children. Preliminary results of introgression of ABS pro-vitamin A traits into local sorghum varieties in target countries Nigeria and Kenya show stable introgression of ABS vitamin A into local farmer-preferred sorghums varieties. ABS gene Intellectual Property Rights and Freedom to Operate have been donated for use royalty free for Africa. Prior to the focus on the current target countries, the project was implemented by fourteen institutions in Africa and the USA. For the next 5 years, the project will complete ABS product development, complete regulatory science data package and apply for product deregulation in target African countries.

The study of local level institutions (LLIs) and socio-economic activities of the rural farm households in Girei and Yola South Local Government Areas of Adamawa state, Nigeria. Multistage random sampling was used in selecting one hundred and twenty (120) rural farm households' member of the local level institution and data were collected through questionnaire administration. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics to determine socioeconomic characteristics and effect of microcredit to the rural community while analytical statistics like multiple regression was used the analyse the effect LLIs microcredit facilities delivery on the socio-economic activities of the rural farm households. The study revealed that the mean monthly cash contribution (Adashe) to the institution by the members was N8,216.67 and mean annul cash (Adashe) disbursement to the members by the institution was N91,000.00. Government and LLIs jointly put the basic amenities in some communities while they jointly sustain them in all the communities. The multiple regression model showed that LLIs' microcredit delivery had positive coefficients and greater than zero as expected but fall to predict the socio-economic activities of the rural farm households. Therefore, the study recommended that government to formulate policies that will include the LLIs into the current food security programs and poverty alleviation programs and make it a channel for loan delivery. The policies will be targeted at improving the welfare of the rural farm households, their source of livelihood, a typical income inequality and gender inequality in agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The significant contribution of women in agricultural development cannot be overemphasised. Women farmers are commonly side-lined and their efforts under-valued in conventional agricultural and economic evaluations despite the substantial impact they have made in the sector. Globally, women's contributions to the agricultural sector have been appraised as the world's major producers and organisers of food crops where half of the world's foods have been grown by them. In Africa, Nigeria included, women dominate and play major roles in producing subsistence crops and livestock. Their contribution to agriculture is estimated to be 65% in Nigeria. However, their contributions are undermined largely because women are often economically marginalised. Though women are food producers for most of the households in rural areas, their marginalisation has been historical. Factors hindering women from accessing agricultural financing include patriarchy, an unfavourable land tenure system that deprives women of access to collateral security in accessing bank loans and the vagueness of women's limited self-agency. Anchored in patriarchal and liberal feminism theories, this study examines how Nigerian women are marginalised in selected spheres of agrarian livelihoods in the south-eastern parts of Nigeria. South-East Nigerian women farmers participate fully in all key stages of farming activities such as production, processing and marketing of food crops. The Igbo men cultivate mainly cash crops. Similarly, in the Northern parts of Nigeria, women are only allowed to participate in certain stages of cash crop growing but they are fully allowed to engage in subsistence farming as they are relegated to home front activities. Patriarchy limits women's access and control over land resources in all forms. Patriarchal and liberal feminism denoted that the actions and ideas of male farmers dominant over those of women has prevented female farmers the autonomy and freedom to become rational beings. This paper recommends mainstreaming of gender in the design, implementation and monitoring of agricultural policies and programmes for inclusive financing for food security and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By recognizing the gap in the literature in examining the effects of financial resources and development outcomes at the household level, this paper examines whether the poorest income quintile would benefit most from programs aimed at increasing their access to financial services in rural northern Nigeria. Most households from this part of the world consist of farmers and, hence, are exposed to the vagaries of climate change. The data from 320 questionnaires administered in two rural communities (Rijau and Fakai) were analyzed using an ordered logit regression model. The results showed that access to financial services by using formal financial institutions and farmer savings clubs benefits vulnerable farmers (mostly women). The robustness check using the Brant test also confirmed that the parallel regression assumption of the model was not violated. A policy scenario that seeks to increase the delivery of financial services to rural farm households using community savings clubs and microfinance institution reforms for reaching the financially underserved was also found to benefit the poorest income quintile, hence, bringing them out of poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fluctuations in oil prices have caused economic contractions and challenges to oil-exporting economies. In particular, Nigeria suffers both the previous and current global oil price shocks and this has raised concerns among policymakers, governments, and economic analysts because of the impact of oil and oil prices in Nigeria’s macroeconomic development. However, this paper investigates the role of diversification on economic growth in Nigeria using annual data from 1986 to 2018. The techniques applied showed that only remittances and official development assistance have affected economic growth in the short run. However, the coefficients of one period lagged indicated that the system is capable of adjusting to its long-run equilibrium condition after some shocks in the system. The findings from variance decomposition indicated that diversification plays a positive role on economic growth in both the short and long-run horizons. By overall implication, the study concludes that diversification has a positive role on Nigeria’s economic growth. Therefore, the study recommends the need for the government to provide active and inclusive policies such as soft loans and commercial agricultural programs to improve its export of agricultural output competitiveness, improve supervisory and regulatory frameworks in the financial sector to ease remittances inflow. For these reasons, diversifying the economy from oil revenue is the ultimate goal for achieving sustainable economic growth and development goals or targets by the year 2030 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa remains highly vulnerable to climate related shocks, since most production relies on rainfall. It is important to accurately measure the resilience of farmers and farming communities to weather variabilities, for both government policy and farmer management responses. This paper develops a Resilience Index Framework, which is further used to assess the resilience of farmers to climate shocks in Nigeria. We conceptualized our Resilience Index (RI) in this study to be a composite function of 60 indicators encompassing four resilience domains namely, Economic & Financial Resilience (ER); Technical-know-how Resilience (TR); Social Resilience (SR); and Physical Resilience (PR). A three-stage standardization approach to construct the resilience index is taken in this study. In the first stage, each indicator is standardized. In the second stage, the resilience domain is computed by averaging the corresponding standardized indicators. In the final stage, the composite RI is computed by estimating the weighted average of all the resilience domains. The study uses the baseline survey data collected between 2021 and 2022 from a total of 5954 farmers in the rainforest, derived and guinea savannah agroecological zones of Nigeria. The result of the study shows that the majority (96.5%) of the farmers are less resilient to climate shocks, with only 0.9% economically & financially resilient, 1.4% socially resilient, 31.4% technically resilient, and 18.5% physically resilient. Finally, some recommend steps to be taken by the government and relevant stakeholders to improve the resilience of farmers through provision of good infrastructural facilities and subsidized improved resistant seed varieties are proposed. • It is important to accurately measure the resilience of farmers and farming communities to weather variabilities. • The designed resilience index measurement framework captures 60 indicators and adopted three standardization levels. • The result shows that the majority (96.5%) of the farmers in the study area are less resilient to climate related shocks. • The study suggests strengthening farming communities' adaptive capabilities to future extreme weather occurrences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving zero hunger is intricately linked to sustainable agricultural production and the workings of a farming system. With land being the most important resource in smallholder agriculture in developing countries; including Nigeria; the effect of legal land ownership is a sine qua non for the process of achieving zero hunger in Nigeria. This study examined Nigeria's attempt at making agricultural land both accessible and utilizable for smallholders in Nigeria through the Presidential Technical Steering Committee on Land Reforms in 2009. The aim was to explore the extent to which land ownership had become legalized; so that it had positive investment incentives for smallholder farmers to improve their investment portfolio on their holdings. A secondary dataset of 4,032 respondents obtained from the Living Standard Survey Integrated Survey on Agriculture (LSMS/ISA) of the 2018/2019 season, was used for the study. Data analysis included descriptive statistics and a 2-stage least square model. The apriori being that legal land ownership provided a perception of security that would enhance farm-level investment; which would therefore increase production output and hence food security. The findings revealed that although land titling was low (~12%) within the agricultural system; its return on production output was highly significant (5.3; p < 0.05). The possession of land title would also increase per capita food consumption expenditure (0.35; p < 0.05) among the farming households. On average, households with access to land titles had a significantly higher (at p < 0.01) food expenditure (N9, 868.00) than those without land titles (N6171.72). Other farm-level investment variables such as credit use, and mechanization through tractor use were significant in improving food security amidst the security presented by possession of land title. Thus, expediting the implementation and coverage of formal land registration and titling may be a first step to contributing meaningfully to the food security drive of the SDGs in Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Including gender research in cassava breeding makes it easier for farmers to adopt new varieties that meet the specific needs and preferences of both male and female farmers, leading to increased adoption of new varieties, improved productivity, and better economic outcomes for the entire farming community. Gender was included in 2013 in variety development at the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI), Umudike, Nigeria in response to the dis-adoption of some varieties by farmers who had not been part of varietal development from the start, and in light of social roles which influence the responsibilities, resources and livelihood outcomes of men, women and youths. Gender inclusion has given plant breeders accurate information about the cassava traits preferred by all end-users, not just male farmers. At NRCRI, gender studies intensified in the last 5 years, contributing to the development and release of improved varieties. Quantitative and qualitative research by the gender cross-cutting team modeled trait profiling and consumer preferences, to aid demand-led breeding. Some of the methods were acquired at several trainings on how to quantify qualitative responses for prioritization. Gender research techniques include participatory varietal selection (PVS), participatory plant breeding (PPB), mother-baby trials, focus group discussions (FGD), surveys, value chainmapping, G+ tools, experiments in farmer field schools (FFS), demonstration farms, and tricot. These gave the cross-cutting team a better understanding of gender relations, power, decision-making, ownership and control of resources, and have mitigated operational and field challenges during the surveys. These methods also elicited feedback fromend-users that led to better naming of newly released varieties, reflecting perceptions of agronomic performance, and food qualities, which made the varieties easier to identify and remember. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examined the journey so far towards achieving the United Nation Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 2 ("zero hunger) from the year 2001 to 2022 in Nigeria. Data was gathered from official sources such as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), FAO, and the World Bank, and then analyzed using descriptive tools. The findings revealed that a significant population of Nigerians are still undernourished, representing over 15.00% of the country's population. The fertilizer use rate and water use efficiency in agriculture were found to be very low relative to the other countries in Africa. The finding further showed that agricultural land marginally increase on yearly basis without corresponding increase in factor productivity. In addition, less than 60.00% of the country's population have access to electricity, while 25.46% of the country's rural population has access to electricity in 2022. The agricultural orientation index in Nigeria was low compared to some African countries. The findings revealed that on average Nigeria is rather too slow or better is off track towards achieving the SDG of 'Zero Hunger' by 2030. The country's current efforts, strategies and the general progress towards SDG number 2 are grossly insufficient. The nation must approach the SDG number 2 as a team player collaborating the domestic agenda with the regional and global plans to effectively unlock the potential needed to attain the mandate of 'Zero hunger' in 2030. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]