http://repo.lib.sab.ac.lk:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/663 Tue, 28 Apr 2026 08:03:49 GMT 2026-04-28T08:03:49Z http://repo.lib.sab.ac.lk:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/1040 Elements of Rural Economics: Access to Agricultural Information among Rural Women Farmers in Abuja, Nigeria Lawal, Alimi Folorunsho; Oladele, Ayoola Olugbenga; Alabi, Olugbenga Omotayo Information is very important for sustainable agricultural development. In order to increase agricultural production, enhance good distribution strategies, achieve improve and effi cient marketing system, agricultural information should be at the central position. This study evaluated elements of rural economics: access to agricultural information among rural women farmers in Abuja, Nigeria. The specifi c objectives are to: identify the socio-economic characteristics of rural women farmers, examine the various ways rural women farmers have access to agricultural information, and evaluate the factors infl uencing rural women farmers’ access to new agricultural information in Abuja, Nigeria. A sample of 90 rural women farmers was selected through a multistage sampling technique from three selected agricultural extension blocks namely: Byazhin, Kubwa and Bwari Central. The data were collected with the aid of a questionnaire. The analytical tools used were descriptive statistics and Maximum Likelihood Estimates using Logit regression model. The results indicated that about 94 percent of the rural women farmers were less than 55years of age which implies that most of the rural women farmers are in their active age. About 86 percent of the rural women farmers were married. Household sizes were large, 76 percent of rural women farmers had less than 10 members. Furthermore, 97 percent of the rural women farmers had less than 30 years farming experiences. In addition, 92 percent of the rural women farmers realized income less than N 100, 000.00 or 318 US Dollar from the sales of their farm products annually. The results further show that the print media and audio-visuals (radio and television) were the major information sources of rural women farmers. The Logit model results revealed that age, marital status and members of farmer’s cooperative association had positive and signifi cant relationships with access to agricultural knowledge and information atrespectively. The coeffi cient of Nagelkerke determinant (R2 ) value was 0.658. The coeffi cient of Cox and Snell determinant (R2 ) value was 0.488. The study recommends that well-trained female extension agents should be provided in the study area to train the rural women farmers on modern farming techniques that will increase agricultural productivity or yields. Mon, 01 May 2017 00:00:00 GMT http://repo.lib.sab.ac.lk:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/1040 2017-05-01T00:00:00Z http://repo.lib.sab.ac.lk:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/1033 Farming Systems and Utilization of Environmental Resources in Rural Communities in the Dry Zone of Sri Lanka Case Study in “Ritigala”, Anuradhapura District Rupasinghe, R. D. C; Ginigaddara, G. A. S; Wickramasinghe, Y. M Majority of the world poor is living in rural areas and agriculture is the main source of their income and employment. Rural people utilize environmental resources as consumption goods, input goods, output goods and storage and durable goods. According to Cavendish and Campbell (2007), environmental resources are the resources that are freely provided by the natural processes. Farming systems found in the dry zone of Sri Lanka, which utilize natural resources, have been evolved over years. Due to the paucity of studies published on the relationship between the extraction of environmental resources and the farming systems in Sri Lanka, this study attempts to generate empirical information to fi ll up the prevailing information gap. A fi eld survey was conducted with a multiple stage sampling (120 interviewers) in three surrounding villages situated in the periphery of “Ritigala” Strict Natural Reserve (SNR), Anuradhapura district. Descriptive analytical methods were used to analyze the data. Three farming systems were identifi ed through the study and the community utilizes a vast number of environmental resources, which belongs to consumption goods, input goods, output goods and storage and durable goods. From the study, it can be concluded that the value and the quantity of environmental resources used has an association with the complexity of the farming system and the geographical location of the village. Value of consumption goods, input goods and durable and storage goods utilized is higher when the farming system is complex. Contribution of environmental goods to annual household income shows a positive relationship with the complexity of farming system. Value of environmental resource used in paddy -vegetable-livestock framing systems recorded the highest value. Mon, 01 May 2017 00:00:00 GMT http://repo.lib.sab.ac.lk:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/1033 2017-05-01T00:00:00Z http://repo.lib.sab.ac.lk:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/1029 Physicochemical Properties of Processed Aerial Yam (Dioscorea bulbifera) and Sensory Properties of Paste (Amala) Prepared with Cassava Flour Akeem, S. A; Kayode, R. M. O; Buhari, O. J; Otutu, L. O; Ajibola, T. B; Oyeyinka, S. A; Opaleke, D. O Aerial yam is a member of the Dioscoreaceae family which consist several varieties found in South Asia and Africa. The tubers are under-utilized and not commercially grown; but are cultivated and consumed among rural dwellers in parts of Western Nigeria. The tubers were washed, sorted, peeled, sliced and blanched in hot water at 80ºC for 10min. The blanched yam slices were divided into four portions. Two portions were fermented for 48hr and sun (BFSUD) and solar (BFSOD) dried. The other two blanched portions were also sun (BSUD) and solar (BSOD) dried respectively. The dried slices were milled, sieved and used for proximate, functional and phytochemical analysis. Proximate composition of aerial yam fl our was: moisture content (7.66-10.60%), total ash (0.05-1.76%), crude protein (4.42-5.07%), crude fi bre (0.56-0.69%), crude fat (3.42-3.82%), and carbohydrate (79.28-82.37%). The phytochemical constituent included alkaloid, steroids, saponin and fl avonoid. The bulk density, water absorption capacity and dispersibility were within the range of 0.52-0.54g/ml, 56.50-66.00g/g and 4.47-5.75% respectively. The sample, BFSUD had the highest crude protein, dispersibility and water absorption capacity was selected and mixed with cassava fl our for amala on which sensory evaluation was conducted. Five aerial yam fl our (AY) treatments were formulated and coded as follow: AY100, AY80CS20, AY60CS40, AY40CS60, and AY20CS80. Cassava fl our (CS100) was used as control treatment. The overall acceptability of fl our paste (amala) ranged from 5.45 (Sample AY80CS20) to 7.25 (sample AY100). The study revealed treatment AY60CS40 and AY80CS20 possessed the overall acceptability, mean score above 7.0 (like slightly). Therefore 60-80% incorporation of aerial yam fl our with cassava is recommended based on desirable sensory characteristics. Aerial yam fl our can be used for food preparation and commercial purpose which may in turn increase the utilization. Mon, 01 May 2017 00:00:00 GMT http://repo.lib.sab.ac.lk:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/1029 2017-05-01T00:00:00Z http://repo.lib.sab.ac.lk:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/1025 Climate Change and Rice Production: A Case Study in Ekiti State, Nigeria Olanrewaju, R. M; Tilakasir, S. L; Oso, C The paper explores the climate eff ect of rice produce in Ekiti State Nigeria. Climate data was obtained from the archive of the Nigerian Meteorological Station, Oshodi, Nigeria. The Rice data was obtained from Ekiti State Agricultural Development Project (A.D.P) The climatic parameters are rainfall amount, rainfall frequency, maximum and minimum temperature while rice yield data include land devoted to rice cultivation, rice production and yield. The data covered the period of 5yrs between 2007 and 2011. The climate data were grouped based on the rice cropping calendar of the study area into the pre-planting (Feb), the planting season (March-mid April), the period of growth (mid April- July) and the period of harvest. The data were summarized using statistical tool of mean, Correlation and regression were used to fi nd the strength of relationship while the most critical climatic variable(s) for rice was identifi ed using factor analysis. The result showed that increase in land devoted to rice did not bring corresponding increase in rice yield. Increase in rainfall amount and frequency during the period shortly before planting and during planting seems to be very important for rice yield. Minimum temperature correlates highly with yield during the period of planting. Mild positive relationship exists between yield and temperatures (maximum and minimum). Temperature is most critical during harvest as both maximum and minimum temperature exhibited a high positive relationship of 0.82 and 0.66 respectively. Mon, 01 May 2017 00:00:00 GMT http://repo.lib.sab.ac.lk:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/1025 2017-05-01T00:00:00Z