The study identified the determinants of food insecurity among farming households in Katsina State, north western Nigeria. A cross sectional sample survey design was used to select a total of 150 smallholder farmers from 15 communities across 10 Local Government Areas of the state. A structured questionnaire, Focus Group Discussion and Key Informant Interview were used for data collection. The coping strategy index was used to determine the food security status of the household and the ordered logit regression was used to identify the determinants of food insecurity among the households. The majority (73%) were found to be food insecure. In terms of food insecurity status, 44% of the respondents were less food insecure, while 17% and 12% were moderately food insecure and severely food insecure respectively. Eating the less preferred meal, purchasing food on credit and reducing the quantity of food consumed were the major coping strategies adopted by the food insecure households. The result of the ordered logit model shows that the total quantity of cereal saved, number of income sources and dependency ratio were significant for both the moderately and severely food insecure groups at p<0.05 while access to credit was also significant for the two groups but at p<0.01. The output of other crops was significant at p=0.10 but only for the severely food insecure group. The study concluded that food insecurity was high in the study area and therefore recommended that the farming households be provided with opportunities to diversify their livelihood activities.
A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the seroprevalence and associations with potential risk factors of brucellosis in indigenous cattle breeds at the livestock-wildlife interface area of Yankari Game Reserve, Bauchi State, Nigeria. A total of 1000 sera samples were examined from 44 herds using convenient and simple random sampling technique. Rose Bengal Plate Test (RBPT) and competitive Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (c-ELISA) were used as screening and confirmatory tests respectively. Of the 1000 samples, 23.5% samples were RBPT positive, and after the confirmatory test, the overall true animal-level prevalence was 4.1%. For the herd level prevalence, (47.7%) herds had at least one animal that is seropositive following both tests. Brucellosis seroprevalence was significantly associated with the following potential risk factors; herds that belong to a cooperative society member (p<0.042), herds that keep only cattle (p<0.001), herds that practice commercial farming system (p<0.011), herds that possess a herd size of 51 to 100 cattle (p?0.009) and herds that have no history of abortion and other reproductive disorder (p<0.009). No statistically significant differences in brucellosis seroprevalence was obtained within sex, breed and age groups It can be concluded that brucellosis is still endemic in the study area.
The study assessed the productive performance of adult indigenous chicken from four Nigerian states of the North Central Zone namely; Nasarawa, Niger, Benue, Kogi and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Data were collected at both Out and On-station. The result showed that flock structure was in proportion of 28, 21.4, 23.2 and 27.5% for cock, hen, growers and chicks. Chi-square showed significant difference (P<0.001) by state. Clutch size ranged from 10.84±0.23 to 11.45±0.23 in FCT and Nasarawa state. On-station clutchsize was 13.11±0.23. There was significant difference (P<0.001) by site while state has similar values. Age at first egg, clutch number and hatchability did not vary significantly. However, there was significant difference (P<0.05) in Chick mortality which ranged from 43.19 to 53.89% in Benue and the FCT. On-stationmortality was 26.78%. Correlation coefficient between egg and production traits showed that most correlation traits were significant at 1%. Only number of chicks hatched, egg wasted, egg width and length and mortality were correlated at 5%. Some common diseases showed that Newcastle is the most prevalent 63.22%. Farmers attached a high preference to keeping male chicken for sale rather than breeding purposes. The high hatchability is an indication of good reproductive performance in the chickens of the study area. Improvement in management practices and vaccination against Newcastle disease should be adopted to curtail its devastating effect on indigenous chicken production in the study area.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.