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This study investigated the gender and generational involvement of community members on the sustainability likelihood of the Community and Social Development Project (CSDP) in Oyo and Ekiti states, Nigeria. A multistage sampling procedure was used to select 130 respondents (16 youth, 42 adult male, 34 adult female and 38 elders). Focus group discussion was used to collect data. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Respondents indicated their involvement in project phases: needs assessment (2:54, 6:5, 5:1), funding (2:23), decision making (12:4, 9:2, 7:2, 2:30), formulation of Community Development Plan (5:8, 3:3, 35:1), training (3:2, 6:6) and implementation (5:2, 2:25, 3:6, 9:3). None of the projects were insured (11:5, 2:26, 19:4), maintenance committee was set in place (8:32, 2:41), projects were relevant (19:7, 6:12, 20:10) and environmental impact assessment was carried out (7:8, 2:46, 3:13, 1:34). The facilitators of CSDP should monitor the activities of community members and ensure that the community members comply with the activities required for the implementation of the projects as stated in the CSDP implementation manual.

Attempts to ensure safety and quality control in the Day-Old Chicks (DOCs) value chain in Nigeria have been perceived to involve some duplicity/multiplicity of roles and/ or responsibilities, putting undue burden on the actors. Therefore, experts' workshop on the DOCs value chain in Oyo State was implemented by the Innovation Lab for Policy Leadership in Agriculture and Food Security (PiLAF) to provide a guide for agenda setting for building a better industry. The workshop had the dual purpose of (i) undertaking a situational analysis of the DOCs value chain in Oyo State, Nigeria, and (ii) strengthening the policy process to effectively respond to the needs of the DOCs value chain in the state through clearly defined, unambiguous regulations and regulatory processes. Twenty-four experts comprising major actors along the DOCs value chain in Oyo State participated in the workshop. Using brainstorming and consensus building process, participants identified infrastructure and markets (strengths), weak regulatory control and high operating cost (weaknesses); supply gap, and good return on investment (opportunities); including adulteration and sharp practices (threats) as the most important Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) factors influencing or capable of affecting the DOCs industry in the state. The DOCs value chain operators identified National Institute of Animal Science (NIAS) followed by the Veterinary Council of Nigeria as the most visible operators in the DOCs value chain. However, the operators perceived the activities of the regulatory bodies as more geared toward revenue generation than actually enforcing compliance to standard practices in the industry. The value chain actors affirm there are overlaps in some aspects of policy guidelines for the DOCs value chain by the Veterinary Council of Nigeria and NIAS leading to what may be described as double taxation to the disadvantage of the actors. Specifically, registration and licensing, prohibition, and import and export domains are some of the aspects of the policy documents that need some minor modifications for clarity and separation of roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the implications of farmers' propensity to discontinue the adoption of agricultural technologies in southwestern Nigeria. This is predicated on the fact that extension education process should be proactive in addressing farmers in order to sustain the adoption process. Empirical studies looking at diffusion processes from an "ex post" perspective have failed to deliver in terms of effective "ex ante" policies and intervention strategies, and the transfer of the technology model has lost much of its lustre. Following a survey of arable crop farmers in two states of southwestern Nigeria, a Tobit model was estimated on the data collected during the 2002 growing season in order to identify variables significant in the farmers' discontinuance behaviour. The variables identified are: attitude, extension visit, feedback provision, marketability and input availability. From the estimation, foremost among the significant variables leading to discontinuance of improved maize and cowpea varieties is extension visits. (Contains 2 tables.)

Poverty among rural farmers could be traceable to their dietary and livelihood. Little information exists on the correlation among crop-livestock production system contributions to livestock dietary and farmers' livelihood. Hence, the study tries to evaluate the crop-livestock farming contributions to livestock diet and farmers' livelihood at the system level. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to purposively select 220 respondents involved in the crop-livestock production system, nine respondents per village, three villages per cell and three cells were randomly selected for Ibadan/Ibarapa area, Oyo state was evaluated. The livestock dietary and farmers' livelihood contributions from crop-livestock production systems were evaluated using the FEAST excel template of ILRI (2015). Data obtained from the Participatory Rural Appraisal technique were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The average area per household (ha) for maize and cassava were 6.8 and 7.2, respectively. The average % income of livestock (62.20) to the farmers' income was higher compared with other contributors such as crop production (60.01), business (11.67), and remittance (6.12). The ME content of the total diet due to grazing was significantly highest in Ido and ranged 0.13 (Ibarapa East) to 0.4 (Ido). Crop residues, naturally occurring pasture and purchased feeds contribute a major proportion to DM intake, ME and protein of livestock diets. Commercial and sustainable livestock production is feasible in the Ibarapa area of Oyo State, Nigeria due to the abundance of good quality and quantity of available feed resources thus improving farmers' livelihood through the crop-livestock production system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of high rate of deforestation of the country's natural resource caused by population growth and economic pressure necessitates interest in agroforestry to encourage sedentary agriculture and rejuvenate degraded soils. The study therefore aims at assessing the constraint to the utilization of women knowledge of agroforestry in Oluyole local government area of Oyo State and the role of oil palm in these practices. The study was done randomly by sampling and interviewing an average of 25 women farmers in each of the 4 wards selected from 10 wards in the local government, giving a total sample size of 100 respondents. The results show that the main constraint in the practice of both border planting and shifting cultivation is land. This makes the practice of "taungya system" very difficult for most of the women. Meanwhile, the only constraint to the practicing of alley cropping is the shade the tree casts on the crop when it is matured, while the practice of grazing is hindered by the diseases that attack the livestock. About 16% of the respondents perceived agroforestry benefit is low, 69% belongs to the medium perception while 15% perceived agroforestry has high benefits. The results indicate that some are engaged in both farming and non-farming activities for livelihood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The work investigated the feasibility of the catalytic degradation of water sachet waste (which is a low density polyethylene) to produce valuable chemicals using 12-tungstophosphoric acid (HPA) and 12-tungstophosphoric acid supported on KIT-6 as catalysts. The reaction was carried out at 400°C for 30 minutes at atmospheric pressure. The gas and liquid products obtained were analyzed using a gas chromatograph. For the liquid product using HPA-KIT-6, about 69 mol% of fractions between C10-C17 (kerosene fraction) was obtained; 32 mol% of which was C16 fraction while for the gas product 93 mol% propane fraction was obtained. A low amount of gas (mainly C3 fraction) resulted from the reaction using HPA-KIT-6 while cracking over HPA gave high yield of gas product (C2 and C3 fractions). Catalytic degradation using HPA/KIT-6 is therefore a promising route for obtaining valuable fuels and petrochemicals while at the same time reducing the environmental problems arising from water sachet waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the implications of farmers’ propensity to discontinue the adoption of agricultural technologies in southwestern Nigeria. This is predicated on the fact that extension education process should be proactive in addressing farmers in order to sustain the adoption process. Empirical studies looking at diffusion processes from an ex post perspective have failed to deliver in terms of effective ex ante policies and intervention strategies, and the transfer of the technology model has lost much of its lustre. Following a survey of arable crop farmers in two states of southwestern Nigeria, a Tobit model was estimated on the data collected during the 2002 growing season in order to identify variables significant in the farmers’ discontinuance behaviour. The variables identified are: attitude, extension visit, feedback provision, marketability and input availability. From the estimation, foremost among the significant variables leading to discontinuance of improved maize and cowpea varieties is extension visits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]