This paper primarily presents analyses from geophysical data and archaeological remains collected at one of a few known sites to the west of Lake Chad associated with fired-brick structures. It reports on previous fieldwork at the location, considers its alleged relationship with the early history of the Borno kingdom and then turns to present new data that provide fresh insights into the physical appearance, dating, material remains, economy and environment of the site. A brief discussion of the historical purpose of the fired-brick structures and the site itself concludes the paper.Résumée Cet article présente les dates géophysiques et trouvailles archéologiques récoltées dans un des rares sites à l'ouest du Lac Chad associé avec des structures en briques. Il contient tout d'abord un rapport court sur les travaux antécédents sur l'endroit, ensuite des considérations sur sa relation avec l'histoire du jeune royaume de Bornou et tourne enfin à la présentation et l'interprétation des nouvelles dates qui Afr Archaeol Rev (
Submissions of game harvested by hunters per expedition to bushmeat landing depots in Southwestern Nigeria were studied for one year. Three established bushmeat landing depots were purposively selected for the study. Olomore and Kila in Ogun State and Odo Ona in Oyo State. The three were so selected because of their distribution along almost the same line of geographical placement on a line with Kila falling in between the other two on a line. Hunters’ return of harvested game after overnight hunting to the three locations on weekly basis was identified and counted for a year. Twenty-one (21) species of Vertebrates in the class Mammalia, reptiles and birds were returned to the three bushmeat depots by hunters during the study. Location-wise, Olomore had the highest return (1,457) and the least was returned to Kila (987) both in Ogun State. Species-wise, Thryonomys swinderianus (Grasscutter) had the highest population of 2,383 animals with a mean value of 794.3 ± 180.58, followed by Cephalophus maxwelli (duiker) with a mean value of 184.0 ± 32.51. The least hunters’ returns were Bitis gabonica (Black cobra) and Perodicticus potto (Bosmans potto) with a mean value of 0.33 ± 0.58 and 0.67 ± 1.15 respectively.
A multi-stage sampling technique was used in selecting respondents for this study. The first stage involved a purposive selection of three Local Government Areas (LGAs) that are known primarily for Shea butter production in the state. In the second stage, two communities were randomly selected from each of the LGAs to arrive at a total of 6 communities. Three Local government areas were selected with a total number of 100 respondents were sampled in the study area. The people used traditional methods of production because of their low level of education (only 1% of producer respondent had tertiary education) and the high cost of modern technology. The result of the estimates for parameters of the frontier model on the determinants of technical efficiency showed that cost of labour (P>0.01), fixed variables (P>0.05) and consumable variables (P>001) were negatively related to technical efficiency of Shea butter production and were significant at various levels. The significant value of these variables and their negative effects as shown affirmed the fact that these inputs were the major factors driving the technical efficiency of Shea butter production in Oke Ogun areas of Oyo state. The quantity of seed was positively related to technical efficiency and significant at 1%. This indicated that the more the Shea nut availability the higher the technical efficiency of Shea butter production in the study area.
The study examined the constraints of access to the use of agricultural insurance schemes (AIS) by small-scale farmers in Kogi State, Nigeria. Sustainable agricultural enterprise in most developing countries like Nigeria can be achieved through adequate financing especially in the area of agricultural insurance. Despite the existence of insurance services by the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation and other private firms in Nigeria, there has been a low level of participation of farmers buying insurance premium; thus, there is a need to examine the hindrances in accessing the scheme. The specific objectives were to describe the socio-economics characteristic of small- scale farmers, examine the types of agricultural insurance and evaluate the constraints in accessing AIS in the study area. Primary data were collected from 150 farmers with the aid of a well-structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results showed that farmers in the study area were dominated by the married (68%), literates (81.33) and males (73.33%) with the mean age and farming experience of 47 and 19 years respectively. Crop insurance (56%) and farm implement insurance (46%) were the major types of agricultural insurance used by the farmers. Rigorous procedures in claim settlement (3.266), poor government attention (3.106) poor repayment (3.080) and non-coverage of all the crops (3.093) were among the major challenges in accessing AIS) in the study area. The study recommended that the government through the ministry of Agriculture or Bank of Agriculture should eliminate the bureaucratic processes and bottlenecks encountered by the farmers in accessing AIS.
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