This study was carried out to analyzed the resource-use efficiency of maize production in Lere local government area of Kaduna state. Data were collected from a sample of 100 maize farmers selected through multi-stage sampling procedure using questionnaire and data collected were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics, production function and marginal value productivity analysis. The result showed that 82% were in their working age of between 21-50 years, majority of the farmers 53% were married, 91% had formal education, in terms of farming experience, majority (68%) of the respondent had farming experience that is above one year. The linear function gave the best fit with R2 of 70.2%. Production inputs such as fertilizer and agrochemicals significantly influence maize output in the study area.  Maize production in the study area has an increasing return to scale from the sum of elasticity of production (20.439). Land, labour, fertilizer, seed and agrochemicals were underutilized in maize production. Profit could be enhanced by increasing the quantity used of land, labour, fertilizer, seed and agrochemicals inputs, as well as their timely supply. It is also recommended that  financial support  in term of accessibility to credit facilities at low interest rate be given to farmers to allow them increase output and total revenue.

A study was conducted between May and August, 2018 to determine the prevalence of intestinal helminths of pigs in Chikun and Jema’a Local Government Areas, Kaduna State. 203 faecal samples were collected, processed and examined under light microscopy. Intestinal helminths recorded were: Ascaris suum (57.1%), Oesophagostomum dentatum (37.0%), Hyostrongylus rubidus (14.8%), Metastrongylus elongates (8.9%), Strongyloides (4.5%), Stepanurus dentatum (2.5%), Trichuris suis(1.5%), Globocephalus urobuslatus (2.0%) and Physocephalus sexalatus (1.5%). The overall prevalence of helminth infection in both LGAs was 71.9%. Pigs in Jema’a LGA had significantly higher prevalence (87.9%) than pigs from Chikun LGA (56.7%). Female pigs had relatively higher (74.4%) infection than male pigs (68.6%). This pattern was also reflected in Chikun LGA where female pigs had a prevalence of 63.9% compared to 46.5% in males, however, the reverse was the case in Jema’a LGA where males had 90.7% prevalence and females 85.7%. In Chikun LGA, the highest prevalence of 58.6% was recorded among pigs aged 25-36 months, followed by pigs aged 5-12 months with prevalence of 57.1%, and the least prevalence of 55.0% was recorded in pigs aged 13-24 months. The prevalence of intestinal helminthosis in pigs tends to decrease with age in Jema’a LGA. The presence of these parasites in pigs examined indicates a potential public health problem in Chikun and Jema’a Local Government Areas of Kaduna state. Enlightenment of pig farmers on the need for periodic veterinary care and restriction of stray pigs through legislation formulation and enforcement are recommended as control measures

This study investigated the marketing of frozen fish in Kaduna metropolis, Kaduna state. Ten (10) markets were purposively selected due to high concentration of frozen fish marketers and the volume of trading activities; Primary data were generated through the use of structured questionnaire administered to hundred (100) randomly selected retailers and fifteen (15) purposively selected wholesalers. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistic, budgeting technique, net marketing and rate of return on capital invested. The result show that majority 80 percent and 53 of the retailers and wholesalers were female, Majority (70prcent) of the retailers had primary education but most of the wholesaler’s attained tertiary education. The frozen fish marketing channels identified in the area are made up of zero and multi stage channels. Furthermore, the cost and return analysis revealed that the wholesalers realized about N121, 000.00 naira while the retailers got N56, 000.00 naira per month while return to per capital invested (RPCI) was 11 kobo and 22 kobo per Naira invested for the wholesalers and the retailers respectively. This implies that the enterprise is profitable. Transportation difficulties and marketing charges ranked were major constraints confronting frozen fish marketers. It is recommended that provision of good roads network and formidable integrated marketing system will further improve the profitability of the enterprise in the study area.

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The study investigated the awareness and level of adoption of aquaculture management techniques in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria. Purposive and random sampling techniques were adopted to select 60 fish farmers from the study area and data were collected from the fish farmers with the aid of well structured questionnaire administered to them face to face by the researchers and some trained enumerators. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as means score, percentage, tables, Likert scale and multiple regression analysis. The findings indicated that majority (60.00%) of the respondents were male, while 95.00% of the farmers were between the age of 21-60 years with 91.67% of the fish farmers educated and 61.67% of fish farmer are highly experienced with 6 years and above. The findings also revealed that majority of the farmers are aware of aquaculture management techniques in the study area with 70.00% getting information on these techniques from extension agents followed by 55.00% who relied on other fish farmers for relevant information about fish farming. The Likert scale result revealed that thirteen out of twenty – one aquaculture management techniques postulated were adopted while eight were not adopted implying that 61.90% of the postulated techniques were adopted by the fish farmers in the study area. The result of the regression analysis showed that level of awareness of techniques; access to credit facility and number of contact with extension agent were the three factors influencing adoption of aquaculture management techniques by the fish farmers in the study area. Lack of credits/ fund to adopt improved practice (75.00%), expensiveness of techniques (55.00%), complexity of techniques (55.00%), and lack of support from the government (51.67%), lack of adequate and proper information on these techniques (50.00%), lack of training (45.00%) and lack of awareness (33.33%) were identified as constraints affecting adoption of aquaculture management techniques in the study area. In conclusion, the study revealed that the farmers were aware and adopted good numbers of the aquaculture management techniques introduced to them The study recommends that farmers should establish cooperative society so that they can pool their resources and knowledge together in solving most of the problems identified.