The study examined the involvement of rural women in oil palm value chain activities in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Data was collected from two hundred and ten (210) respondents purposively selected from rural oil palm women farmers in Akwa Ibom State. Collected data was analyzed using frequencies, percentage and ranking method. The results showed that the respondents were in their prime age (youthful age/active age) 26-50 years of age. Majority of the respondents also had formal education (primary, secondary or tertiary). Furthermore, most of the respondents (63.8%) were married as that served as labor for the oil palm value chain activities. Also, most of the respondents had a household size of 1-5 persons. A greater percentage of the respondents equally had 11-20 years experiences in oil palm business. In assessing the oil palm value activities the respondents were involved in, the result revealed that the respondents were actively involved in the processing, marketing and storage of the oil palm business. They were less involved in the planting and harvesting of the palm fruits which was more cumbersome and manly. Among the constraints, lack of finance was identified as the topmost constraint to risk, high cost of labor, high cost of transportation, theft etc. The study recommended that government/stakeholders should ensure that the rural women have access to credit and technology to make the business more attractive to the young women.
IITA developed several new varieties during 1976-1985 for the benefit of cassava farmers. The study had four specific objectives which described the socio-economic characteristics of the cassava farmers, identify the perception of cassava farmers on the IITA improved varieties, ascertain the cost and profitability of cassava production and the constraints faced by the farmers. A multi stage and purposive sampling method was used in the selection of 100 respondents, 50 adopters and 50 non-adopters of IITA intervention in the study area. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents and these data were analyzed using gross margin, likert and descriptive analysis (frequency, percentage and mean). The result showed that majority of cassava farmers in the study area were male and majority of them were married. The mean farm size was 1.8ha which implied that production was in a small scale in the study area. The result also revealed the net return for adopters was N230,800 and N146,000 for non-adopters, which denoted that cassava production was more profitable to the adopters of the improved cassava varieties. The result further revealed that the inadequate information on availability of planting materials was the main constraints faced by the cassava farmers. This study concluded that the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) improved cassava varieties increased the profitability of cassava production. Therefore, it is recommended that extension agents should train and encourag farmers to use IITA varieties to increase their profitability in the study area.
Agriculture plays an essential role in the economy of Nigeria as it provides food for the entire population of a country and also provides raw materials for the non-agriculture sectors of the economy. Nigeria's agriculture is made up of a higher percentage of smallholder farmers who are often exposed to shocks and have less capacity to combat the impact and increase the rate of recovery due to shocks. Therefore, the strengths and weaknesses of farmers' knowledge systems are important in building a resilient agricultural sector to improve farmers' food security, and livelihoods and build resilient capacity toward pandemics. The COVID-19 pandemic was a big threat to Nigeria's food security since the bulk of the food produced in Nigeria is by the smallholder farmers who are often vulnerable to shocks. The paper examined smallholder farmers' knowledge, attitude, and perception of the COVID-19 pandemic using descriptive statistics. A total of 400 smallholder farmers in the study area were interviewed about their knowledge and perception of the COVID-19 pandemic. The finding showed that 332 of the respondents were aware of the virus, 340 did not believe in the existence of the virus, 365 believed they cannot be infected by the virus, and 271 adhered to government-imposed measures on combating the virus. On the methods employed to mitigate the spread of the virus in the study area, 180% of the respondents observed the social distancing, 78% used hand sanitizer, 48% wore nose masks and 40% reduced farm visits.
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