Aims: To examine the socioeconomic characteristics of the farmers and determinants of farm size productivity among smallholder cassava farmers. Study design: Time series data. Place and Duration of study: The study was carried out in 2009 in the southeast agro ecological zone of Nigeria. April-June, 2009. Methodology: A multistage randomized sampling method was used in selecting four states-Abia, Akwa Ibom, Imo and Cross River and then 240 cassava farmers in the area of study. Structured questionnaire and interview schedule were used to elicit information from the respondents. Information sought bordered on the socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents and input use. Analysis of data was carried out using log-linear regression model and descriptive statistics such as tables, percentages and mean. Results: The results revealed that farm size was negative and significant at 1% and productivity of cassava increases with hired labour which is positively correlated with productivity at 1% level of probability. The coefficient of mode of occupation was positively correlated to productivity at 5%. It signifies that full time farmers are more productive than part time farmers. Conclusion: The results have shown that there is an inverse relationship between farm size and productivity. This call for policies aimed at redistribution of land targeted towards giving land to smallholder farmers in order to improve productivity.
Yam () is an important tuber crop in Nigeria, where it is produced mainly as a source of food crop especially carbohydrate. The current annual production is estimated at 26.587 million metric tons (FAO, 2005). In 1997 alone, Nigeria accounted for 75% of the world production (Manyong 2001. Although yam production in Nigeria is quite high there is still need for increased production to satisfy domestic and possibly export demand (Asumugha 2004). However, production of yam is highly expensive when compared with other root and tuber crops. This is due to costly input requirements, especially labor and planting materials (Ezeh, 1998). For both seed yam and ware yam production, planting materials may exceed 50% of production cost (Orkwor 1998.) A large quantity of edible yam up to 30% of the previous year's harvest may be used to plant a new crop (Okoli and Akoroda, 1995). This makes seed yams account for the high cost of total production cost.The minisett technique involves the use of 25g of setts to produce whole tubers which serve as "seed" yam (Okoli and Akoroda, 1995). This technology was developed to address the problem of high cost of seed yam. Yam minisett technology is a package comprising of the following field operations (i)Land preparation (ii)use of minisett dust( iii) time of planting-when rains become stable( iv)sett size of 25g (v)seed bed preparation( vi)spacing of 25cm x1.0m( vii)use of fertilizer (Iwueke,1991). The rate of adoption of the minsett technique was l o w ( , I w u e k e , 1 9 9 1 ) T h e a d o p t i o n r a t e w a s r e p o r t e d a s l o w a s 4 0 % ( C h i k w e n d u e t al.1994,Ogbodu,1995Anuebunwa et al 1998 This was partly because seed yams vary with ecological zones and farming systems in Nigeria (Asumugha and Eluagu,1999).The study therefore addresses the following
Aims:To determine the sweet potato marketing channel, gross marketing margin and returns, marketing efficiency and state the policy implications of the study. Study design: Cross sectional study Place and Duration of study: South east agro ecological zone of Nigeria, between January 2010-December 2010 Methodology: A multistage randomized sampling procedure was used in selecting 120 wholesalers, 240 retailers age range 35-45 and then 24 markets respectively. Structured questionnaire was used to collect information from the respondents. Information collected bordered on volume and value of sales, cost of transportation and channel of distribution. Data were analyzed using marketing margin and Net-return analyses, Efficiency ratio, Chi square and Duncan multiple range tests. Results: The study showed that sweetpotato marketing is not efficient but lucrative. This is as depicted by the results. Net margins realized were N14,632,N24,100,N24,600 and N28,603 on the wholesalers sector while N3,256,N5728,N5775 and N10,000 were realized on the retailers sector. Efficiency results revealed that none of the states/sectors had efficiency of 100%.The efficiencies range (20-80%). There were significant differences in marketing efficiencies in the markets across the states studied. Conclusion: Lack of infrastructural facilities is the main problem militating against efficient marketing system in the zone under study. It is therefore, recommended that infrastructural facilities should be provided for the marketers to reduce spoilage and distressed sales .This will improve marketing efficiency.
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