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Decision-making is central to farm management. This study assesses key factors influencing land allocation decisions of households with respects to tree crop cultivation in Nigeria. The study uses primary data collected electronically from a sample of 569 small and 495 medium-scale farmers in Ogun State.Tobit and Heckman regression models were estimated. The study finds that, farm households who have access to land markets and land tenure security, all-weather roads, agro-dealer services and better transportation services are more likely to cultivate tree crop fields and allocate a higher share of total farm holdings to tree crop enterprises. Farm households with more educated heads put larger area of land under commercial tree crop cultivation and those with larger off-farm income tend to cultivate less hectarage to tree crops. The share of farmland allocated to tree crops by male headed households is higher than the share by the female headed households. In addition, female and youth-headed households were found to be less likely to invest in commercial tree crop farming. Policies and intervention programs that would enhance access to land, agro-dealer services, all-weather roads, transportation services and security of land tenure could facilitate the redistribution of land in favour of commercial tree crops.

Most rural households in Nigeria are poor and majorly agrarian yet do not base their livelihoods solely on agricultural income. Gender is thought to be a prominent socio-economic factor affecting participation of rural households in livelihood activities and consequently, their poverty status. Therefore, the effects of livelihood patterns and gender on poverty status of rural households in Osun State, Nigeria were examined in this study. Primary data was collected from 122 rural household heads, through a multi-stage random sampling procedure, using well-structured questionnaires. The data were analyzed using Foster-Greer-Thorbecke (FGT) poverty measure and probit regression. The results revealed that crop farming was the predominant livelihood activity among the households with more women involved in off-farm (53.30%) than on-farm activities (46.70%). More female headed households (55%) were poor compared to their male counterparts (49.60%). Poverty was least among households involved in both on-farm and off-farm activities than those harnessing one activity. The probit estimates showed that age squared household size, share of total household income from on-farm activities and off-farm income reduced poverty while age increased the probability of being poor buster did not affect poverty. Therefore, the study recommends that both farm and off-farm activities should be encouraged for effective poverty reduction among rural households.

Dried composite CPH were milled, soaked in 5% urea solution for 7 days, and ensiled for 28 days under anaerobic condition to upgrade its nutritive contents to make urea-treated ensiled cocoa pod husk meal (UTCPHM). The UTCPHM were used to replace cassava peels at 0, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30% in diets of West African Dwarf (WAD) goat-does in a 90-day feeding trial, using 24 WAD does of four replicate per treatment in a completely randomized design. Thereafter, the nutrient compositions of UTCPHM were assessed while the nutrient and fibre fraction digestibility were evaluated. Crude protein (CP) improved by 71.84%, while Crude fibre (CF), Acid Detergent Lignin, Neutral Detergent Fibre and Theobromine of UTCPHM reduced by 29.40%, 16.75%, 17.88%, 20.04% and 47.30% respectively over the raw CPHM. The CP of the diets ranged (10.52% - 12.84%), CF (17.28% - 17.37%) from 0% UTCPHM diet to 30% UTCPHM diet; and theobromine concentration (1.47%) was highest in 30% UTCPHM diet. However, DMI, CPI, nitrogen balance and daily weight gain increased progressively as the inclusion of UTCPHM increased in the diets. Thus, UTCPHM could be incorporated in goat diets up to 30%, as it supported their growth.Key words: Ensiled cocoa pod husk, Urea treatment, Fibre fractions, Theobromine, Doe.

Phytonutrients present in Alafia barteri leaves include antioxidants which serves to protect cells and tissues against detrimental effects of reactive oxygen species and other free radicals. This research work was targeted at investigating the activities of oral administration of aqueous leaf extract of Alafia barteri on the histology of the prefrontal cortex, heart, kidney, liver and testis of adult Sprague Dawley rats. Twelve (n=12) adult male Sprague Dawley rats weighing between 170-200 g (4-6 weeks old) were used for this study; they were divided into 2 groups of six rats each. The control group A received 2 ml/kg normal saline and treated group B received 500 mg/kg body weight aqueous extract of Alafia barteri for twenty eight days. The gross anatomical parameters of the selected organs and their histology were assessed. The gross anatomical and histological observation of the prefrontal cortex, heart, kidney, liver and testis revealed no visible distortion in Alafia barteri extract treated group when compared with control. Aqueous leaf extract of Alafia barteri thus has no deleterious effects on the histological profile of the prefrontal cortex, heart, kidney, liver and testis of the rats.