ABSTRACT Dissemination of push-pull technology (PPT), continued use and expansion of land area under PPT remain critical requirements in addressing the major constraints facing maize production. These include infestation by Striga weed and stem borers, coupled with declining soil fertility conditions which jointly result in low yields and poverty in many developing countries. Despite the extensive literature on PPT adoption, its impacts as well as wider dissemination, little is known about d...
ABSTRACT With the declining public investments in extension services in Kenya, smallholder farmers are accessing inputs and advisory services from private sector through diverse business models, namely producer organization driven, milk processor driven or direct procuring. However, farmers‟ choice of the business models and their influence on dairy performance and technical efficiency is empirically unclear. Using data from random sample of 246 smallholder dairy farmers in a cross- sectio...
ABSTRACT Increased consumer awareness has raised concerns over food safety and production methods. In Nigeria, consumption of organic produce is low. This study assessed consumer willingness to pay for selected organic leafy vegetables. Data from 129 respondents were obtained using a simple random sampling technique. Conjoint analysis and contingent valuation were used to analyze willingness to pay and determinants of willingness to pay. Contingent valuation indicated that 84.5%, 76%, and 62...
ABSTRACT Despite the acknowledged importance of agricultural science and technology (AS&T), little is known about the structure and performance of AS&T policy system in developing countries. The structure and performance of this policy system in Kenya and Uganda was analysed using a preliminary ‘system components-shift effects’ framework. The system components comprised of agricultural research, extension, education and transboundary technology transfer. The impact of these components wa...
ABSTRACT Measuring market integration is one of the most important aspects that can be used to assess the impacts of market development and liberalization policies. The study used cointegration approach to evaluate market integration in the sugar industry in Kenya. The approach used appreciates the existence of transaction cost and other determinants of market integration including effective communication as well as good transport network. The nature of movement of sugar prices in different ...
ABSTRACT More than 80 percent of the population in Ethiopia lives in rural areas and their main source of income is agriculture. Agriculture accounts for 45 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employs 85 percent of the labour force.Export of agricultural products constitutes 86 percent of the total foreign exchange earnings. The country has taken different measures to diversify and increase the contribution of the export sector to economic growth such as; export trade duty incent...
ABSTRACT Maize is the main staple food crop in Kenya and the government policy objective is to increase maize production in order to achieve food self-sufficiency and security. The government has been applying import tariffs on maize, procuring maize at support prices, and imposing non-tariff barriers on maize imports as measures aimed at motivating farmers to produce more maize. Maize production has not, however, substantially improved in the last 13 years, and consumption demand has remain...
ABSTRACT Evidence has shown that Time Allocation (TA) to various activities by gender has implications for the poverty status of households. Yet, there is little empirical evidence on the influence of TA on household poverty in rural Nigeria. Hence, the influence of gender TA on the poverty status of rural farming households in Southwestern Nigeria (SWN) was investigated. Oyo and Osun states were randomly selected from SWN. Two rural Local Government Areas (LGAs) were randomly chosen from eac...
ABSTRACT Rural development has been erroneously equated to agricultural development. The former works to diversify income through non-farm activities to complement proceeds of the latter. However, the actual role of non-farm income in poverty alleviation is not yet known among rural households. There is therefore the need to critically explore the roles of non-farm income diversification in rural poverty alleviation. The patterns and contributions of nonfarm income diversification to poverty...
ABSTRACT This 'study attempts to assess the economic performance of the rubber processing industry in Bendel, Ogun and Ondo States of Nigeria. The Nigerian rubber industry wh ich expeiienced a boom in the early 1950's started to face some serious set-backs during and after the civil war which broke out in 13G7. This setbacks were manifested in form of declining productivity and consequent decline in its contribution to foreign exchange earnings. The study which covers the period 7-1 assesses ...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY • Following the lessons learnt under the National Fadama Development Project -J, the National Fadama Development Project-II (NFDP-Il) has as one of its major objective to foster the inclusion of all social groups and to ensure that they benefit from the project. These groups are to be included in the participatory planning process that will result in the Local Development plans to be funded and in their implcrncnuuion. Experiences show that there is yet low level of awaren...
ABSTRACT East Africa region has imbalances in the supply and demand of common bean. This can be offset by improving marketing infrastructure. The objectives of the study were to determine the characteristics of common bean traders, to determine the constraints to the observed trade in common bean varieties and finally to assess the extent to which markets have integrated in key selected markets. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to obtain a sample of 240 respondents (120 traders from th...
ABSTRACT With increasing population in the main consumption regions of Zambia, there is a persistent shortage in the supply of groundnuts especially in Lusaka and the Copperbelt regions. This is despite the major producing areas of Eastern and Northern regions having significant surpluses. This is a clear indication of market failure to stimulate groundnut production and distribution in addition to excessive price volatility, information asymmetry, and lack of organized and consistent markets...
ABSTRACT In Southern Mali, small-scale farmers face multiple constraints such as low soil fertility that lead to low agricultural productivity and income. Crop-Livestock Integration System (CLIS) among small-scale farmers has been promoted by extension services to tackle these challenges in order to improve farmers’ livelihoods. Some small-scale farmers have embraced the integrated crop livestock production system and adopted innovations that have been promoted by extension services provide...
ABSTRACT Over the last decade Kenyan government has been supporting rabbit research and development activities. The efforts were aimed at raising the productivity of the small holders rabbit producers as a cheap and ease source of animal protein in the rural areas of Kenya despite presence of pulses. But inspite of the efforts rabbit production in Buuri Sub county stands at 1.2 Metric tons of meat against a potential of 8.4 Metric tons per year. This productivity gap is wide and indicative of...