In this study, the prepared foodstuffs were defined as the groups comprising products from the Harmonized System (HS) sections IV. The sub-sections are specified as consisting of the HS sub-sections 16-24. These sub-sections include: (16) Preparation of meat, fish or crustaceans, molluscs etc; (17) Sugars and sugar confectionery; (18) Cocoa and cocoa preparations; (19) Preparations of cereals, flour, starch/milk, and pastry cooks' products; (20) Prepared vegetable, fruit, nuts or other parts of plant; (21) Miscellaneous edible preparations; (22) Beverages, spirits and vinegar; (23) Residues and wastes from the food industry, prepared animal fodder; (24) Tobacco and manufacture tobacco substitutes. The available annual data on the values of bilateral exports and imports of the sub-sections of the prepared foodstuffs (HS IV) were obtained from the Nigeria's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The intra-industry trade in this scenario refers to simultaneous exports and imports of Cereal preparations and miscellaneous edible preparations between Nigeria and the ECOWAS partners. According to Grubel and Lloyd (1975), Helpman and Krugman (1985), Davis (1999), Ruffin (1999, this trade is more beneficial than the interindustry trade because it stimulates innovations and exploits the economies of scale.Also, in spite of the implementation of the ECOWAS trade liberalization scheme, the evidence shows that the intra-ECOWAS trade as a percentage of the total ECOWAS trade was highly insignificant. Between 1999 and 2006, the total intra-ECOWAS trade was 12% of the total ECOWAS trade (intra and inter-ECOWAS trade) (ECOWAS Statistical Bulletin 2008); compared to the European intra-regional trade which is about 63.7% of the total trade (Eurostat 2013). While the ECOWAS total external trade was 45.7% of the regional GDP over the period 1999 to 2006, the intra-ECOWAS trade was 26.86% of the regional Determinants of the intra-industry trade in cereal and miscellaneous edible preparations: the evidence for Nigeria and the ECOWAS partnersGodwin Odo ONOGWU Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension; Federal University, Wukari, Taraba State, NigeriaAbstract: Th e trade liberalization processes of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are implemented through such interventions like free international trade, common external tariff wall, the consolidation or freezing of custom duties and non-tariff barriers to the intra-trade among others. However, the extent to which these eff orts have translated to the intra-industry trade in the prepared foodstuff products has not been investigated yet. Th e objectives of this study are to assess the intra-industry trade theory in cereal and miscellaneous edible preparations; to evaluate the growth rates of simultaneous exports and imports in these prepared foodstuff sub-sections; to evaluate the extent of the intra-industry trade in the sub sections, and to determine the eff ects of the Nigeria's and partners' characteristics on the intra-industry trade. Th e results revealed...

Millet is a staple food mainly from local varieties, throughout the Sahel and in parts of the Sudan Savanna. Improved millet varieties are higher yielding and of better quality than the local varieties. This study was carried out after the Yobe State Agricultural Development Program had carried out series of extension services to assess the determinants of adoption of the improved varieties. Multistage systematic and purposive random sampling techniques were used to select 300 farmer respondents. Descriptive statistics was used to describe the socioeconomic characteristics of the farmers while logit regression analysis was used to determine factors that affect the adoption of the technology in the study area. The result showed that household size, farm size, farming experience, maturity period of millet, yield of millet, and access to credit were positively significant in predicting the farmers' probability of adopting improved pearl millet variety. On the other hand, distance to source of technology (improved pearl millet seeds) negatively influenced the probability of adoption. The study recommends improving the funding of the extension organizations and making concerted effort to increase the quantity and quality of human resources available if food security is to be guaranteed in the region.

This study assessed the effects of marketing costs on the gross margin of guinea corn retailers in Wukari, Taraba State, Nigeria. The main aim of the study is not to only obtain precise costs and margins estimates for the conventional marketing functions of guinea corn, but rather to make the result of the analyses usable to devise a policy framework for an effective marketing strategy and improvement in the efficiency of guinea corn marketing and agricultural produce/products markets in Taraba State and Nigeria in general. Structured questionnaire was used to illicit response from forty guinea corn retail marketers across six local government areas of the state during the 2017 marketing season. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data collected, while Ordinary Least Squares Analytical Procedure was used to determine the parameter estimates of marketing costs. The average retailers' gross margin per 50 kg bag stood at N1,036.16, while price and transportation cost per 100 kg bag is N17,472.00 and N249.00, respectively. Storage cost for six months period stood at N163.00 per 100 kg bag. The results showed that retailers' selling price, transport cost, storage and cost due to perishability have significant effects on retailers' gross margin, at 8, 5, 10 and 9% levels, respectively. It is recommended that transportation facilities should be sustained by government, private individuals and corporate groups in addition to intensification of research into post-harvest storage and processing techniques. Again, funds and storage facilities should be made available to the marketers to enable them take advantage of bulk purchasing during harvesting seasons to ensure market expansion that will improve guinea corn marketing cum retailer gross margin like in the study area.

This study was carried out with the view to examining the effects of input cost on the production among pullet farms in Jos South local government area of Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. The major objectives were to determine the effects of inputs costs on pullet production and determine the effects of socio-economic profiles of the pullet rearers on farm productivity. A sample size of 100 pullets farming households were randomly sampled using a set of detailed and well-structured questionnaire. Objectives were realized using descriptive statistics such as mean, frequency distribution and percentages and multiple regression model. In determining the effects of the input costs on pullet productivity in the study area, the double log regression model gave the best fit to the data. The result indicates that 91% of the variations in pullet productivity was accounted for by variability of the input costs included in the model. The number of birds, cost of feed, additional light and additional heat; drugs, had significant effects at 1% & 5% level respectively on pullet productivity which suggests that they are important determinants of pullet productivity. In determining the effects of socio economic profiles of the pullet rearers in the study area, the linear regression model gave the best fit to the data. The results indicate that about 62% of the variations in pullets output was accounted for by socio economic characteristics (membership of cooperative, age; household size, farming experience; extension service and sex of the pullets rearers influenced the productivity of pullets egg farms in the study area) of the respondent included in the model. Provision of feed mill, extension services cum formation of cooperative groups are among the key prescriptions to save feed cost and improve egg productivity.