
The study made use of a gender disaggregated data to examine the effect of income on modern healthcare utilization among female and male headed household farmers in Kwara State, Nigeria. A total of 200 households were randomly selected for the study. A structured questionnaire was used for the purpose of extracting needed information from the respondents. The data collected was analyzed with descriptive statistics and Ordinary least square regression analysis. The mean annual health expenditure of the male and female headed households were #2,810 and #4,010 respectively. The result of regression analysis revealed that access to modern healthcare service, years of schooling, membership of Social group and amount of credit accessed significantly affects utilization of modern heath care among the male farming households heads while household size, years of schooling, access to healthcare service, amount of credit, membership of social group and Income affects the utilization of modern healthcare among the female headed households. The study concluded that income significantly affects utilization of modern healthcare among female headed households when compared with their male counterparts. It is therefore recommended that there should proper awareness of the benefit of using modern healthcare services in farming communities especially among the male headed households. DOR: 20.1001.1.22517588.2021.11.2.5.9
The purpose of this study is to prioritize the effective components of capital in the agricultural sector with a fuzzy approach.Because Given the limited resources of capital, and especially for a developing country, the emphasis on investment and its allocation to key sectors is very important. Also, by paying more attention to the sectors with higher priority for investment, while benefiting from some savings, domestic needs can be met and the ground for presence and competition in global markets can be provided. The role of investment in the agricultural sector in creating job opportunities is undeniable, and growth of GDP and economic growth depends on investment. To achieve this goal this method has been used for the first time and is innovative in terms of theme and fuzzy conceptual model used and includes previous research and documentation, interviewing experts in agricultural sector and using MAXQDA 2018 software. And the reliability of the researcher-made questionnaire with Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.855 was obtained. The statistical population includes 62 people, who after studying and reviewing, identified four main criteria and eight sub-indicators. After performing Fuzzy Hierarchical Analysis (FAHP) using MATLAB software, finally, the prioritization of the eight identified sub-indices was obtained. According to the results, the highest weight belongs to the S criterion (technical reality) with a value of 0.554, and the lowest weight belongs to the W criterion (cultural and social) with a value of 0.031. DOR: 20.1001.1.22517588.2021.11.2.3.7
The paper sought to investigate the effect of simultaneous use of radio- and mobile phone- based agricultural market information systems on smallholder farmers’ access to information focusing on prices of agricultural inputs and commodities. A multivariate probit model was estimated to gauge potential use of each information system by farmers to access information on prices of agricultural inputs and commodities. Results reveals limited use of mobile phones to jointly access input and commodity prices as the devices were mainly for accessing information on commodity prices. The cost of using mobile phones was the dominant factor underlying the low use of mobile phones to access information on commodity prices. The cost of use along with farmers’ access to extension and group membership were the major factors underlying the use of radio to access price information. Results predicted higher prospect for smallholder farmers to use radio- than mobile phone-based information system to access information on agricultural inputs and commodities. Endeavors to promote farmers access to markets information should focus on creating synergies with extension services and local initiatives linking farmers through groups. Future research on the subject matter should attempt to accommodate more means of acquiring market information including extension agents and explanatory variables to enhance robustness of the adopted model or its variants.
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has the world’s highest proportion of young population and there has been widespread interest in and calls for engaging this youth in agricultural occupations for achieving sustainable agricultural development and food security in the region. Yet, very little is known if the youth themselves are willing to take up such employments and what would motivate them to do so. We investigated these questions in the context of Nigeria. A questionnaire was designed with insights from the Expectancy-Value Theory of motivation. Data were collected from over nine hundred undergraduate students of agriculture in four Nigerian universities to investigate their willingness and motivations to pursue an agricultural career after graduation and analysed using descriptive statistics and Principal Axis factoring. Vast majority of the students were willing to pursue an agricultural career and self-employment based on agricultural production was their most preferred choice, which varied according to gender, rural vs. urban residence, and study programmes. Both Success Expectancy (perception of own ability/competence to perform agricultural tasks) and Utility Value (usefulness of agriculture to achieve career goals) exerted positive motivational influence on the students’ willingness, with Utility Value being more influential. Motivation based on Utility Value also had the strongest influence on career choice. These findings can guide policy and intervention design to ensure maximum impact and effectiveness in increasing and sustaining educated youths in agriculture.
The propouse of this study was to investigate the role of information and communication technology in agricultural systems and the transition to food security and sustainability. From the perspective of the purpose, the present study is an applied research and from the perspective of data collection method is also a survey research. The statistical population of this study includes managers and experts and managers working in the Agricultural Jihad of Khuzestan province. Acorrding to Statictics from the human resources unit of the organization there are 96 experts. Due to the limited statictical society enhsus method was used. Questionnaire was used to measure research variables. The validity of the questionnaire was used by a panel of experts and Cronbach's alpha method was used to determine the reliability and Cronbach's alpha for the questionnaire was 0.798. Descrptive statistic methods used include mean, median and frequency percent and inferencial statistical methods used Partial least squares method. The results show that information and communication technology has a positive and significant impact on agricultural systems. On the other hand, agricultural systems have an impact on food security and sustainable agriculture. Finally, it has been shown that information technology through agricultural systems enhances food security and achieves sustainable agricultural goals. DOR: 20.1001.1.22517588.2021.11.1.5.7