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Poverty in Nigeria is more prevalent in therural sector due to dwindling and inequitabledistribution of real income. Remittances (money and goods sent by migrants to relativesback home) can be poverty reducing. However,the extent to which remittances affectpoverty and income inequality has not been adequately documented inNigeria.This paperuses a large, nationally-representative household survey to analyse the impact of domesticremittances (from Nigeria) and foreign remittances (from African and other countries) onpoverty in rural Nigeria. The socioeconomic characteristics showed that on the average,households that received foreign remittanceshad older heads (61.7± 19.7 years), smallerhousehold size (4.0 ± 2.5), bigger land size(18.53±26.5 ha), higherliteracy rate (0.50 ±0.5) and non-poor (0.08 ±0.3) with higher annual per capita expenditure (₦111,768 ±₦179,868). Poverty analysis showed that both types of remittances reduce the level,depth and severity of poverty in rural Nigeria.However, the size of the poverty reductiondepends on how poverty is being measured. The paper finds that poverty is reduced morewhen domestic, as opposed to foreign remittances are included inhousehold income, andwhen poverty is measured by the more sensitive poverty measures: poverty gap andsquared poverty gap. At a poverty line of₦23,733 per annum, a 10%increase in domesticremittances decreased Poverty Incidence(PI), Poverty Gap (PG) and Squared PovertyGap (SPG) by 1.80%, 1.60% and 1.60% while10% rise in foreign remittances reducedpoverty incidence (PI), Poverty gap (PG) and Squared poverty gap (SPG) by 0.86%,0.62% and0.62% respectively in rural Nigeria. Across GPZs, While 10% increase inforeign remittances reduced PI (-0.88%) in North-Central (NC) it had no effect in NE(0.00%). Same increase in domestic remittances reduced PI, PG, SPG most in the SS (-0.29%, -1.85% and -0.75%) and leastin NE (-0.09%, -0.82% and -0.22%

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Policy makers at global, national and local levels are more than ever concerned about the rising trend in child malnutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa and how it can be curtailed in the context of general food and basic-needs policies. To support programme setting at the local government level, this study was conducted to examine the relative importance of environmental and socio economic correlates of child malnutrition. Primary data were collected through a well structured questionnaire and analysed using Z-score indices and probit model.Our results reveal that 46% of the children are stunted, 6% under weight and 21% wasted. Our model estimation identified the age of the child, diarrhoea infection and poor sanitation as key factors that increases the likelihood of malnutrition in the study area. This reflects the relative importance of environmental factors in the study area. Socioeconomic factors were less robust but were consistent with previous empirical studies in terms of direction of association. The study recommends that government and other stakeholders should pursue sanitation/ hygiene programmes and public enlightenment programmes on the dangers of poor sanitation and diarrhoea.

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Although Nigeria has comparative resource advantage in terms of favourable climatic, edaphic and ecological conditions in the production of rice, local production has not been able to meet the growing demand. The inability of the Nigerian rice economy to satisfy the domestic demand and the consequent growth of rice import quantity and value remains a cause of concern. The study analyzed the difference between potential and actual yield of rice in North Central Nigeria. Employing a multi-stage sampling technique, data were obtained through the use of structured questionnaire administered to a sample of one hundred and forty four rice farmers in Niger state, Nigeria. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and regression models. Results indicated that rice farmers in the area cultivated four improved rice varieties WITA 4, FARO 15, FARO 35 and FARO 44 with average yield gaps of 1.48, 2.85, 3.03 and 3.20 tons per hectare respectively. This makes these rice varieties under-exploited as farmers operate at levels where they obtain an average of 49% of the potential yield. Factors which contribute to the reduction in the magnitude of rice yield gap include increase in the frequency of contacts between farmers and extension workers, increase in fertilizer use per hectare and higher intensity of tractor use. It was recommended that the yield potential of cultivated rice varieties should be fully exploited as a first option to meeting the current level of national rice demand because increased rice production towards the attainment of self-sufficiency may well hinge upon the ability of farmers to narrow the gap between current rice yields and yield potentials.

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