Food production decisions in Nigeria are made mainly by small-scale farmers who face a number of risks. In response, farmers engage in some risk management strategies which may have social and economic implications not only on the farming households in particular, but the entire economy. This study identified the sources of risk and the management strategies employed by the food crop farmers. A two-stage sampling procedure was used in the collection of primary data. The first stage involved a random selection of 30 farming communities from the three agroecological zones of the state's Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) namely Ife-Ijesa, Osogbo and Iwo zones. The second stage involved a random selection of food crop farmers from each of the villages with probability proportionate to size of each farming community. Data from 165 respondents were used for the analysis. Primary data collected included sources of risk, other environmental factors and management strategies employed. Secondary data were also obtained from Osun State Agricultural Development Programme (OSSADEP) records to complement the primary data. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and composite analysis. Sources of risk in the last three years were market failure, 54.5%; price fluctuation, 46.1%; drought, 32.7%; pest and diseases attack, 33.9% and erratic rainfall, 39.4%. Majority of the food crop farmers in the study area were in the medium risk category. The mean value of 2.68 (approximately 3.0) implies that an average food crop farmer experienced up to three different sources of risk in the study area. Risk management strategies available to the farmers were extension services, 67.3%; access to fertilizer, 41.2%; mixed cropping/farming, 79.3%; cooperative society 54.5%, borrowing of money, 73.0% and off farm-work, 69.7%. Attention should be shifted towards protection of farmers against market failure and price distortion or fluctuations as these, among others could impair the growth potential of these farmers. Investment in irrigation projects by the government would also save the farmers from drought and erratic rainfall while farmers are encouraged to benefit from the services of the agricultural insurance industry.

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

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