AGRONOMY PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS

The study examined the profitability and technical efficiency of cheese producers in Plateau State, Nigeria. The State has a total number of 19 local government areas. Three of these local government areas were randomly selected, that is Langtang East, Jos South, and barkin ladi local government areas, from which four villages were randomly selected, which was followed by a random selection of ten cheese producers from each village, making a total of 120 respondents. Data were generated through the use of well structured questionnaires which were administered to the respondents and descriptive statistics, gross margin analysis and chi-square test were the analytical tools employed. The study showed that all the respondents were female with 88.3% married and 83.3% of the respondents derived their income primarily from cheese production. The study also showed that cheese production is profitable with a net farm income of N 15,295 per month. The fixed cost contributed less than 1% of the total cost while the cost of milk accounted for more than 70% of the total variable cost. It was also observed that the mean technical eiciency of the cheese producers was 97.49%, the most technically eicient cheese producer has 100.00% while the least technically efficient cheese producer has 46.45%. The study therefore shows that cheese production is profitable and the producers are highly technically efficient.

This study examined access to agro-credit by farmers in Kaduna state. This study employed survey research methodology which covered the three agricultural zones in the study area. To achieve the objective of the study, five research questions guided the study and one hypothesis was formulated. Hypothesis was tested using Chow test model. The data generated were analyzed using multiple regression and 4-point likert scale rating. A reliability coefficient of 0.78 was obtained using Cronbach Alpha to establish internal consistency. It was shown that, majority of the respondents (40%) were aged between 31 and 40 years, 32.5% where aged between 41 and 50 years and 18.33% were between 21 and 30 years. About 41.20% of the respondents had no formal education, 34.2% attended primary education, 16.7% obtained secondary certificate while 7.5% attended tertiary institution. About 48.3% of the respondents had farming experience of 20 years and above, 19.2% had farming experience of between 10 to 14 years and 17.5% had 15 to 19 years. Majority of the respondents (41.67%) sourced a total amount of between N100,000 and N400,000 from either formal or informal sources, 25.83% sourced less than or equal to N100,000. Others, 10.83%, 15% and 6.67% have obtained credit to the tune of N400,001 – 700,000, N700,000 – N1,000,000 and more than N1,000,000 respectively. Age, marital status, level of education, interest rate and credit awareness were the major determinants of (p<0.05) credit sourced by th

Anambra State was carved out of the former, larger Anambra State on August 27, 1991. It is bounded by Delta State to the west, Imo State to the south, Enugu State to the east and Kogi State to the north. The people of Anambra State are predominantly Igbos and are very industrious. Most of the industrial base of the state is private sector driven, spanning from agro allied, automobile and manufacturing situated mostly in the Nnewi industrial belt. Onitsha market is reputed to be the biggest in West Africa. The State has a land mass of about 4,416sq km with 4,182,022 population. Several raw materials and agro-products are produced in various parts of the State. For example Cassava is widely grown in Orumba South Local Government, Yam in Anambra West and Rice in Anambra East. Fishery products are abundant in Ogbaru. The State has a vision of “becoming the most livable, economically vibrant state in Sub-Saharan Africa serving as the economic hub of the southern part of Anambra state” which is anchored on MDGs, Vision 20: 2020 and Anambra State Strategic Plan. The State Agricultural Investment Plan (SAIP) is aimed at ensuring food security in such a way that food and agro-products become accessible, available and aordable to all Anambrarians and raw materials to Agro-based industries through a gender balanced, environmental friendly and private sector driven development in Agriculture. The Plan also ensures significant increase in area under cultivation on arable crops,

The broad objective of the study was to analyze factor-product relationship in pisciculture value chain in Lagos state, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to: (i) determine the socio-economic characteristics of the pisciculture farmers and examine influence on their output, (ii) identify the value chain steps in pisciculture enterprise, (iii) determine the factor-product relationship and estimate the technical efficiency in the value chain, (iv) estimate the costs and returns of pisciculture value chain and (v) identify the various constraints facing the pisciculture value chain. The study adopted the survey design. It utilized mainly primary data. A structured close-ended questionnaire was used to collect information from the 120 fish farmers in the area. Data generated were analyzed using the stochastic frontier analysis (SFA), budgetary analysis, rate of return; test of difference in mean and value chain analysis. Average output of fish per production cycle was 14,000kg, while an average farm size (land) was 1.97ha per farmer. Average scores for farming experience, household size and years of schooling were 11.7years, five persons and 14.4 years respectively. The farmers were young as indicated by mean age of 43years. The result showed that all farmers (100%) culture fingerlings, juveniles and market size fishes while only few carryout hatching of eggs (40%) and culture fries (50%) in pisciculture enterprise in the state. Mean scores for pond size ( =2.22m2) and feed (

Food security is a concept that has evolved during the 1990s far beyond a traditional focus on the supply of food at the national level. This concept has been given general definitions in time past but in recent times, there has been a divergence of ideas on what food security really means. food security is defined as access by all people at all times to enough food for an active and healthy life. The committee on world food security defined it as physical and economic access to adequate food by all household members without undue risk of losing the access.

This study analyzed the risk preference and insurance purchase by rice farmers in Enugu State. Nigeria. This research is as a result of concentration of many studies on agricultural insurance purchase, which centres on the analysis of risk preference, awareness of insurance purchase by rice farmers with little emphasis on the specific issues such as the different mechanisms and risk preference of rice farmers especially in the study area. The aim of the study was to analyse risk preferences and insurance purchase by rice farmers in Enugu State, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to: examine the socio-economic characteristics of rice farmers in the study area, examine the rice farmers’ awareness and perception of insurance and risk, identify the different insurance mechanisms and products used by rice farmers, ascertain the willingness of the rice farmers to pay for agricultural insurance and factors that influence willingness to pay for insurance, and identify the constraints encountered by rice farmers in participating in agricultural insurance in the study area. The study used survey design which covered the three agricultural zones of Enugu state. A three stage random sampling techniques was used to select 140 rice farmers in Enugu State. The selection was based on prior information from Enugu State Agricultural Development Project and national agricultural insurance company. First, four (4) Local Government Areas involved in rice productions was purposively of five (5

This study examined the marketing of poultry feeds in Anambra State, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to: describe the socio-economic characteristics of the poultry feeds marketers; identify and describe the marketing channels for poultry feeds; describe the promotional activities adopted by these poultry feed marketers; assess the degree of market concentration among wholesalers and retailers of poultry feeds; determine the marketing margins for poultry feeds at wholesale and retail levels and ascertain the factors that determine the selling price by the marketers of poultry feeds. The study was guided by the null hypothesis: There is no difference in the marketing margins of wholesalers and retailers of poultry feeds. A survey design was adopted in the study. Data for the study were collected from a sample of 120 marketers through the use of two sets of structured and pre-tested questionnaire. The data were presented using descriptive statistics while Gini coefficient, marketing margins and multiple regression were used for the analysis. The study showed that males (63.3%) dominated wholesaling, while females (55%) dominated retail marketing business of poultry feeds. About 70-75% of them were within the highly productive age range of 20-50 years. About 11.7% of the retail marketers attended primary school while 43.3% and 45% attended secondary and higher institutions, respectively. Majority (86.7%) of the wholesalers bought directly from producers (feed millers) w

This study investigated resource use efficiency of Fadama III and non-Fadama III beneficiary rice farmers in Niger State, Nigeria. Primary data were collected using questionnaire/interview schedule administered to a sample of one hundred and twenty rice farmers, selected using multi-stage sampling technique. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, stochastic frontier production function, return to scale analysis, gross margin analysis, net farm income analysis and likert scale rating technique. Maximum likelihood estimates of the Cobb-Douglas frontier function showed that coefficient of seeds (0.479), labour ( 0.445) and herbicides ( 0.093) had significant effects on output of Fadama III beneficiary rice farmers while fertilizer ( 0.069) is the input with significant effect on output of the non-beneficiary farmers. The estimated coefficients of the inefficiency model revealed that age, household size, educational level, extension contact and Fadama advisory services positively affected Fadama III rice farmers’ technical efficiency, but only age and educational level were significant. On the other hand, age, household size and extension contact positively affected non-Fadama III rice farmers’ technical efficiency, but only extension contact was significant. An increasing return to scale of 1.432 and 1.168 were recorded for the Fadama III and non-Fadama III rice farmers, respectively. The technical efficiencies of the Fadama III rice farmers ranged from 0.411 – 1 with

This study analyzed the risk preference and insurance purchase by rice farmers in Enugu State. Nigeria. This research is as a result of concentration of many studies on agricultural insurance purchase, which centres on the analysis of risk preference, awareness of insurance purchase by rice farmers with little emphasis on the specific issues such as the different mechanisms and risk preference of rice farmers especially in the study area. The aim of the study was to analyse risk preferences and insurance purchase by rice farmers in Enugu State, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to: examine the socio-economic characteristics of rice farmers in the study area, examine the rice farmers’ awareness and perception of insurance and risk, identify the different insurance mechanisms and products used by rice farmers, ascertain the willingness of the rice farmers to pay for agricultural insurance and factors that influence willingness to pay for insurance, and identify the constraints encountered by rice farmers in participating in agricultural insurance in the study area. The study used survey design which covered the three agricultural zones of Enugu state. A three stage random sampling techniques was used to select 140 rice farmers in Enugu State. The selection was based on prior information from Enugu State Agricultural Development Project and national agricultural insurance company. First, four (4) Local Government Areas involved in rice productions was purposively of five (5

Despite the dominant role of the petroleum sector as the major foreign exchange earner, agriculture remains the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy (Oyejide 1986). In addition to contribution to GDP, it is the largest non-oil export earner, the largest employer of labour, and a key contributor to wealth creation and poverty alleviation, as a large percentage of the population derives its income from agriculture and related activities (NEEDS, 2004). All over the world, the concept of evolving strategies for ensuring natural food security and sustainable livelihood especially for the developing countries has gained full prominence. In view of this, processing cassava into its derivatives for food and income has been the practice of many Nigerians in the rural areas. The current drive towards higher levels of commercialization of cassava processing under the presidential initiative on cassava requires that the scale of cassava processing be increased in Nigeria (Ekwe and Ekwe, 2005). Cassava is one of the staple food crops grown in Nigeria. Nigeria grows 34,000 tonnes of cassava every year, which constitute the largest output of the crop from any country in the world (Adebayo and Sangosina, 2005). In 1982, Nigeria ranked number six in the world production of cassava with an output of 6.8 million tonnes per annum. Through the cassava multiplication programme (CMP) (1986-1996), Nigeria’s production of cassava increased from 41million tonnes in 2005 to 49million tonnes in 2