http://irepo.futminna.edu.ng:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/9 SAAT 2026-05-02T16:30:43Z http://irepo.futminna.edu.ng:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/29034 Title: Adoption of Recommended Agrochemical Practices among Cowpea Farmers in Kontagora and Mashegu Local Government Areas of Niger State, Nigeria Authors: Muhammed, H.U; Salawu, I.T; Jibril, S; Umaru, A; Mba, G.O Abstract: The study was carried out to assess adoption of recommended agrochemical safety practices among cowpea farmers in Kontagora and Mashegu Local Government Areas of Niger State, Nigeria. One hundred and forty (140) cowpea framers were randomly selected for interview. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression. The results revealed that majority (77.2%) of the farmers were married and had just primary school education (43.6%). About half (47.9%) of the farmers were within 36-45 years of age with mean age of 36 years. Also, 63.6% of the farmers had household size of between 6-10 people with a mean of 7 people. More so, half (50.7%) of the farmers had farming experience of 6-10 age years. Majority (75.0%) of the farmers had farm size of 2.5–3.5 hectares, while 41.5% had access to extension contact. OLS results revealed household size had negative and significant influence on adoption rate of recommended agrochemical safety practices (p<0.01), level of education, farm size, cooperative membership, level of income and access to credit had positive and significant influence on adoption rate of recommended agrochemical safety practices (p<0.05) while extension contact had positive and significant influence (p<0.10). The results further showed farmers in the study area were aware of most of the recommended agrochemical safety practices. In addition, more than half (51.7%) of the farmers had moderately adopted the recommended agrochemical safely practices. Constraints identified include high cost of protective gadgets (x̄ = 2.62) and low literacy level among farmers (x̄ = 2.50). It was therefore recommended that farmers should be provided with protective gadgets by relevant stakeholders like NGOs at subsidized rate. More so, extension agents should sensitize and encourage the farmer to attend adult education classes in order to improve their literacy level 2023-05-01T00:00:00Z http://irepo.futminna.edu.ng:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/29032 Title: Poverty Status and Alleviation Strategies Adopted by Rural Households in Wushishi Local Government Area of Niger State, Nigeria Authors: Ajayi, O.J; Makarau, S.B; Muhammed, Y; Umar, A; Salawu, S Abstract: This study examined the poverty status and alleviation strategies adopted by rural households in Wushishi Local Government Area of Niger State, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling procedure was employed to select 140 rural households on which structured questionnaire was administered complemented with an interview schedule. Primary data collected were analysed with descriptive statistics such as frequency counts, percentages and mean, and inferential such as Probit regression. Foster, Greer and Thorbecke (FGT) model was used to determine the poverty status of the households. Findings from the study revealed that the mean age of the respondents was 43 years, mean household size was 10 people, mean farming experience was 20 years, mean farm size was 6.10 hectares and mean annual income was ₦604,381. About 93% of the respondents were males, 88.6% were married and 73.5% had formal education with a mean of 9 years in formal schooling. However, majority (97.1%) of the respondents had access to credit, while few (22.1%) of the respondents had contact with extension agents. Based on the estimated poverty line of ₦18,472.13, 45.7% of the households were found to be poor, while 54.3% were non-poor. Probit regression result revealed that household size (2.51, p<0.01), education (-4.19, p<0.01), farming experience (-1.86, p<0.10), farm size (-2.22, p<0.05), access to credit (-2.08, p<0.05) and extension contact (-2.79, p<0.01) significantly influences the likelihood of the rural household being poor. In terms of poverty alleviation strategies adopted by the rural households, crop diversification (𝑋̅= 2.46), mixed farming (𝑋̅ = 2.14) and engagement in non-farm activities (𝑋̅ = 2.09) ranked 1st, 2nd and 3rd, respectively among others. In conclusion, most of the rural households were non-poor which could be due to adoption of various poverty alleviation strategies in the study area. It was therefore recommended that extension agency should provide adequate extension services to the rural households that will help enhances poverty alleviation and boost agricultural production. 2023-05-18T00:00:00Z http://irepo.futminna.edu.ng:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/29031 Title: INFLUENCE OF IMPROVED OPEN POLLINATED MAIZE VARIETY ADOPTION ON LIVELIHOOD STATUS OF FARMERS IN NIGER STATE, NIGERIA Authors: Umar, I.S; Mohammed, U; Muhammed, Y; Abdullahi, A; Abubakar, U Abstract: The study examined influence of improved open pollinated maize variety adoption on the livelihood status of farmers in Niger State, Nigeria. To achieve the objectives of the study, 120 farmers were randomly selected from three (3) Local Government Areas in the State. Validated interview schedule with reliability co-efficient of 0.74 was used for data collection and analyzed using descriptive statistics, livelihood index and multiple regression analysis. Result showed that the mean age and mean farm size of the respondents was 34 years and 1.9 ha, respectively. Finding further indicated that 82.5% of the respondents were full adopters by cultivating improved maize variety in at least 10% of their total farm lands. The result also revealed that educational level, income, incentive and time of awareness positively and significantly influenced adoption of improved maize variety, which highly upshot the livelihood status of the respondents by about 70.0%. The study recommended that incentive such as free seed of improved varieties should be given to farmers for testing by the improved varieties’ promoters during awareness to facilitate adoption. It was also suggested that extension agents should synchronize awareness time with seasons of usage of the improved varieties to speed up the practical application of the improved varieties 2021-03-09T00:00:00Z http://irepo.futminna.edu.ng:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/29028 Title: Factors Influencing Compliance to Agrochemical Safety and Health Practices Among Maize Farmers in Kogi State Nigeria Authors: Jibril, S; Ajayi, O.J; Muhammed, Y; Mshelizer, R.J; Ahmed, I.I; Umar, A; Jimoh, M Abstract: The modern industrial agriculture has created an array of ecological and equity problem through the introduction of agrochemical. Agrochemical use has been on in use in both developing and developed nation with unsafe and indiscriminate practices which pose major risk to the environment and human health globally, the purpose of this study was to determine determine the factors influencing the levels of compliance to agrochemical safety and health practices among maize farmers in Kogi State Nigeria. In order to achieve the study objectives, 4- stage sampling procedure was used to select 166 maize farmers. Data were collected using semi-structured questionnaire, complimented with interview schedules, and analyzed using descriptive statistics, and Ordered Probit regression model. Based on the findings of the research, it was found that maize cultivation was a male dominated enterprise (83.73%), and mean household size was 6 persons. About 91.3% of the maize farmers use fertilizer during the cause of farming with radio and extension agents as their major source of information on available agrochemical. Result of the Ordered Probit regression model shows that marital status, education, farm size membership of association, credit and labour where the factors influencing level of maize farmers compliance to agrochemical safety and health practices in the study area. The study recommends that women should be encouraged by government and non-governmental organizations and should be given equal opportunities in accessing production inputs in order to excel in their maize farming activities. Maize farmers should be motivated by government and non-governmental organizations to join farmer’s associations in order to increase their access to loan facilities while extension agents which are the major sources of information on agrochemical safety practices should educate maize farmers in the study on the risks associated with agrochemical use and how to prevent such risk.. 2023-02-11T00:00:00Z