Indexing p. 1  Editorial Bord p. 1  Guide for Authors p. 3  Manuscript preparation p. 5

A B S T R A C TRice importance in food security and contribution to Nigeria economy cannot be overlooked, rice is produced in Nigeria but productivity increase has been a challenge due to many factors. Actors involved in the production process include women who are faced with formidable obstacles. This research analyze agricultural innovation, constraints faced by male and female rice farming households and decision making among rice farming household in Nigeria rice hub. A 3-stage stratified random sampling procedure were used, descriptive statistics, Ordinal Ranking, Least Significant Difference and Women empowerment index were the tool of analysis. The study showed that 23.81% of the respondents are female-headed and 76.19% are maleheaded; more than half of the women (54.29%) are without formal education as compared to men (25.89%). Only 13.39% and 8.57% of the male and female headed household use rice innovation; access to credit, high cost of input and poor soil fertility are the major constraints; women empowerment results showed 76.60% of decision is made by solely by male head, 7.80% is made by female and 7.09% of decisions are jointly made. The study recommends that; innovation usage should be advocated, subsidy should be intensified and gender consideration in decision making be made a priority.

No abstract

There is an increasing concern on the vulnerability of farmers to the impact of climate change. The study analyses maize farmers' vulnerability to climate risk, it specifically determines their knowledge of climate change; examines their vulnerability; identifies the determinants of vulnerability and their management strategies. Three-stage random sampling was employed. Descriptive statistics, Likert scale, vulnerability index and stepwise regression were the tools of analysis. Result showed 79.5% of the respondents were males while 20.5% were females; 77.5% had no formal education; and their mean farm size was 2.88ha. The majority of the farmers agreed that the climate is changing which is corroborated by the meteorological data analysed. The vulnerability assessment shows that the farmers are vulnerable. The determinants of vulnerability among the farmers were years of experience, information about climate change, sensitivity of farming resource and susceptibility to drought.. The results also showed that farmers do not have the necessary capacity to mitigate against the effect of climate change. It therefore recommends that adequate climatic information, easy access to drought tolerant maize variety should be prioritize in policy making.

No abstract