This study focused on the profit analysis of small-scale poultry layers in Iwo ADP Zone of Osun State. Data were collected from the poultry farmers using a well-structured questionnaire and multi-stage sampling procedure. A total sample size of one hundred and five (105) poultry farmers was selected. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics budgetary analysis and inferential statistical tools (OLS). Results of the study revealed that majority (80%) of the farmers were below 50 years and the farmers’ mean age was 49.5±7.7 years. The majority (95%) of the farmers had primary education and above. The mean year of experience was 11.0±3.4 years. The mean birds reared and profit was 405 birds and N84, 849.54 respectively. Return on investment during the period was N1.04 establishing positive returns. Household size, years of poultry farming experience and stock size were the factors significantly influencing the profit positively. Therefore, it is suggested that poultry farmers in the study area should try to increase their pen size, explore the use of family labour and endeavour to learn new methods of poultry management from farmers with more years of poultry-keeping experience to increase their level of profit.

Gender inequality still plagues agricultural production in developing nations. One hundred and twenty (120) maize farmers were selected from the study area using a multi-stage sampling procedure. Both descriptive and inferential statistics, such as a two-sample t-test and ordinary least squares multiple regression, were used to assess the data acquired. The results of the descriptive analysis showed that the average farm size of male and female farmers was determined to be 2.1 ha and 1.7 ha respectively and that 66.7% and 81.8% of male and female farmers, respectively, had formal education. Males had a lower income per hectare (N53.657) than females did (N68.181) on average. The t-test's outcome revealed a significant difference between male and female farmers' cumulative average farm income. Age (p < 0.01), years of farming experience (p < 0.05), farm size (p < 0.01), and tractor operation costs (p < 0.01) were significant income determinants among female maize farmers, whereas years of formal education (p < 0.05), years of farming experience (p < 0.05), farm size (p < 0.01), and labor cost (p < 0.05) were significant income determinants among their male counterparts. The practical value of this study is confirmation that maize farming is a profitable farming enterprise option for both male and female farmers in the study area. Since women are capable of using resources effectively to reach higher levels of farm income than men, the government should launch certain specialized empowerment programs aimed at them. Keywords: sex, maize, resource, utilization, disparity

It has been widely confirmed that diversity in farm production is a strategy for enhancing nutritional outcomes of smallholders as malnutrition remains widespread in the poor population most especially the Sub-Sahara Africa smallholder households'. Hence, the question of what extent does farm production diversity influence nutritional outcomes of farm households' in Nigeria. This study used 2012-2016 nationally representative households panel data. Two measures of smallholder nutritional outcomes quantities of food calories consumed, and dietary diversity were used as the outcome variable. A food group-based index was used in the estimation of farm production diversification. The farm households have low farm diversity with an index of 0.31. Seasonal analysis of the nutritional outcomes revealed seasonal consumption poverty as the average calorie consumption and dietary diversity were higher in the seasons of the post-harvest than in the post-planting. Production diversity has a positive significant influence on the nutritional outcomes of farm households'. Other demographic drivers of nutritional outcomes were location (rural areas), limited market access, sex, age, and income of the household heads. This study confirmed that even-though, farm production diversity is a crucial factor influencing households' nutritional outcomes, it is important that policy issues aimed at improving households' nutritional outcomes focus on increasing farm production and market-related aspects of smallholder agriculture. Keywords: Calorie, Consumption, Livestock, Market, Season

Poultry occupies a pivotal position because of its enormous potential to bring about rapid economic growth. Agricultural credit is considered essential to the process of improving agriculture and transformation of the rural economy. This study was conducted among 343 poultry egg farmers in Southwestern, Nigeria. Muiti-stage sampling procedure was employed was employed in selecting the poultry egg farmers in the study area while descriptive statistics and binary logit were used to analyze the data. The findings of the study revealed that majority (74.3%) of the poultry egg farmers were male with an average age 42 ± 8.9 years. More than half (57.8%) of the farmers were educated above secondary education. More than half (63.6%) of the farmers had between 5-10 years of layers rearing experience with the mean years of experience being 9.0 ± 5.4 years. Majority (98.0%) of the poultry egg farmers had access to credit while only (2%) of the farmers insured their poultry farms. Factors that influenced the poultry farmers’ access to credit include gender, years of education, stock size and biosecurity level. The study recommends that the government should formulate a policy that will be assisting the poultry farmers to get more funds at the lowest rate of interest. Key words: Poultry, Egg, Credit, Logit, Nigeria

The problem of climate change is becoming more threatening to sustainable economic development. The fact that climate has been changing in the past and will change in the future emphasises the need to understand how farmers perceive climate change and adapt to it in order to guide strategies for adaptation in the future. This study examines perception and adaptation to climate change of maize-based farmers in three agro-ecological zones of Nigeria using data from a cross sectional survey of 346 farming households selected through a multistage sampling technique. The study re-affirmed male dominance in maize production with about 90.8% of the farmers being male, while about 54.6% were between the productive ages of 41 - 60 years with a mean age of 45 years. About 47.4% of the farmers had no formal education, while the average number of years of formal education was 6.5. Results showed that 81.5% of the sampled maize farmers had perceived changes in climatic variables and 68.5% had employed adaptation measures. Econometric estimation of Heckman probit model revealed that the likelihood of farmers perceiving changes in climate was positively and significantly influenced by farming experience, access to extension agents, farm income and agro-ecological settings, while farming experience, distance to market centre, access to extension agents and farm income increase the probability of adapting to climate change. Policy focus should be awareness creation as well as improved farmers' knowledge through extension agents, social network and NGOs and strengthening of credit institutions.

Climate Change is a trending issue affecting agricultural production, drastically reducing crop yield and threatening food and nutrition security.This study aimed to investigate the factors that influenced the choice of farmers’ adaptation strategies to climate change in three agro-ecological zones of Nigeria using data from cross sectional survey of 346 maize –based farming households. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and multinomial logit model at α0.05. 90.8% of the maize farmers were male, with 54.6% between the productive age of 41-60 years and mean age of 45 years. About 47.4% of the farmers had no formal education while the average years of formal education was 6.5 years. The mean years of farming experience was 25.6 years. The analysis of adaptation to climate change made by maize farmers across the three agroecological zones showed that the common adaptation methods were changing the planting dates of maize, changing land-use practices, and uses of improved seed variety. The determinants of farmers’ choice of adaptation strategies were age, education, farm size, farming experience, access to extension agents, access to credit, farm income, land ownership, agro-ecological zone, rainfall and temperature. Majority of the maize farmers were being constraint by inadequate credit or saving, inadequate knowledge of appropriate adaptation strategies and inadequate information on climate change. The study recommends government interventions through adult literacy programme, improved extension services, adequate credit facilities and adaptation policies should be based on the constraints and potentials of each agro-ecological zone. GSJ: Volume 7, Issue 1, January 2019 ISSN 2320-9186 443 GSJ© 2019 www.globalscientificjournal.com 1.0 Introduction Climate change is primarily caused by the developed countries [1]. However, it is the bitter irony of destiny that Africa contributes least (920,000t of CO2 each year, less than 4% of the global production) of all the continents to the climate change, but will probably suffer most from its consequences. Economists refer to this as a typical case of negative external effects, an externalisation of costs: A non-involved party bears the costs of a third party’s actions [2]. Africa’s vulnerability to climate change limits the effectiveness of development interventions and calls for greater efforts in reducing the rate of global warming. It is therefore important that the industrialized countries should now rapidly speed up their efforts to cut down greenhouse gas emissions to avoid dangerous climate change. Meteorological data have shown that rainfall pattern in Nigeria has changed in the past decades. It is recorded that rainfall measurement in Nigeria dates back to the last 70-80 years, and the later part of the last century is widely reported to have experienced low rainfall and drought conditions [3]. Nigerian agriculture is almost entirely rain-fed hence inherently susceptible to the vagaries of weather. Only about a million hectare is currently irrigated in Nigeria out of the total 30.5millions arable hectares of land [4]. Agriculture in Nigeria is therefore particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change [5], [2] and [6]. The consequences are that the increasing frequency and severity of droughts are likely to cause: crop failure; high and rising food prices; distress sale of animals; de-capitalization, impoverishment, hunger, and eventually famine. Many people and most households in Nigeria depend on cereals (most especially, maize) as a contributing, if not principal, source of food and nutrition [7]. Maize is one of the important grains in Nigeria, not only on the basis of the number of farmers that engaged in its cultivation, but also in its economic value. Despite the great potential of Nigeria in cereal production, the frequent occurrence of drought occasioned by erratic rainfall distribution and/or cessation of rain during the growing season is the greatest hindrance to increased production. Traditionally, maize has been grown in forest ecology in Nigeria but large scale production has moved to the savannah zone, especially the Northern guinea savannah, where yield potential is much larger than in the forest. The environmental conditions required for maize cultivation are therefore superior in the savannah zone with high solar radiation, less incidence of biotic stresses and natural dryness at time of harvest [8].Maize grown in Nigeria and many other countries in sub-Sahara Africa are usually rainfed. Rainfall, and to a lesser extent, temperature are the most important climatic factors that determine crops’ growth and timing of agronomic practices in different ecological zones of Nigeria. Although, Agricultural drought occurs when the levels of precipitation are sufficiently low to cause serious decrease in crop yield through its effects on the physiological process whereas, maize is essentially sensitive to moisture stress around the time of tasseling and cob formation. It also needs optimum moisture condition at the time of planting. Drought may occur at any stage of maize growth but when it coincides with flowering and grain filling periods yield loss could be between 40 to 90% [9]. Drought stress at flowering disrupts the synchrony between pollen shed and silking, which is the major cause of yield reduction [10]. In spite of great potential of Nigeria in maize production (African largest producer with nearly 8 million tons, two factors, one climactic and the other edaphic, were identified as limiting maize crop production [11]. First, frequent occurrence of drought ocGSJ: Volume 7, Issue 1, January 2019 ISSN 2320-9186 444 GSJ© 2019 www.globalscientificjournal.com casioned by erratic rainfall distribution and/or cessation of rain during the growing season is the greatest hindrance to increased production. In order to reduce yield loss due to drought, drought resistant varieties are being developed. Secondly, it has been reported that low soil fertility is among the major constraints limiting the production of maize in the guinea savannah of West Africa [12]. The overall effect is possible rapid decline in productivity, food production in the face of rapid population growth in Nigeria. It is however suffice to note that farmers are quite conscious of these challenges and are rationally expected to put up diverse coping strategies. Such copping strategies are derivable from long years of experience amounting to indigenous knowledge or the output of their interactions with the research and extension system over the years.The effectiveness of these strategies goes a long way in determining the diversities and level of impact of climate change or variability on production of notable strategic crop like maize. These will in turn determine the potential impact on food security. Militating against the climate change thus requires understanding the impact of the change, the diversity and effectiveness of the coping strategies of the farmers towards fashioning out appropriate intervention strategies against climate change as it affects maize production in Nigeria. Adaptation and mitigation can both be used to reduce the negative impacts of climate change. Responding to climate change through mitigation will take time and therefore adaptation becomes critical particularly where the ability to adapt is low. Adaptation is an important component of climatic change impact and vulnerability assessment and is one of the policy options in response to climatic change impacts [13], [14]. The awareness of climate problems and the potential benefits of taking action is important determinant of adoption of agricultural technologies [15]. [16] argue that farmer awareness of change in climate attributes (temperature and precipitation) is important to adaptation decision making. The literature on adaptations has made it clear that adaptation are dependent on customs, institutions and policies; thus one might expect to see differences in the extent of adaption between agro-ecological zones within the same country. Addressing long-term climate change should entail a comprehensive long-term response strategy at the national or local level and requires a dynamic approach [17]. However, in the absence of directed policy responses, farmers choose their own adaptation measures depending on their household and farm characteristics. Probit and logit models are the most commonly used models in the analysis of agricultural technology adoption research. Binary probit or logit models are employed when the number of choices available is two (whether to adopt or not). The extensions of these models, most often referred to as multivariate models, are employed when the number of choices available is more than two. The most commonly cited multivariate choice models in unordered choices are multinomial logit (MNL) and multinomial probit (MNP) models. Multinomial logit model have been used by different studies [18], [15], [19] regarding farmers’ choices of adaptation options and their determinants. However, most of the studies were undertaken at a macro level and the results are highly aggregated hence have little relevance for addressing country-specific adaptations to climate change. This study intends to bridge the gap in literature by considered micro-level analysis of adaptation strategies, using farmer behavioural models to study how farmers make decisions when choosing among various adaptation options. Examining these socio-economic, institutional and environmental factors will help in guiding strategies for adaptation in the future. An important policy message of this study is that it would afford the policy makers the opportunity to plan for effective adaptation policies based on the constraints and potentials of each agro-ecological zone. 2.0 Material and Methods 2.1 Study area The study area is Nigeria. Nigeria is one of the sub-Saharan African nations in the western

This study examined the households’ water choice decision and willingness to pay for improvement in waterservices. Data were collected from 216 randomly selected households in Ijebu- Ode local government area, OgunState. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Ordinary Least Square regression and logit regressionmodels. Result showed that majority of the households’ water supply was from private piped/borehole. 58.3% ofthe households were dissatisfied with the current water supply situation and the households preferred waterchoices are public piped (64.4%), private piped/borehole (30.1%) and well water (5.6%).. These preferences ofhousehold’s water choices were determined by quality, convenience, availability and cost with 35.6%, 33.3%,18.5% and 12.5% respectively. It was revealed further that household per capita expenditure on water was N60(US$0.38) per day an equivalent of N1,800 (US$11.5) per month. The mean willingness to pay for theimprovement in water service was N2,247(US$14.4) per month which is even higher than the amount therespondent are spending per month on private piped and the current connection charge per month on publicpiped. The result of ordinary least square regression showed that connection charges, household size, distance towater source, availability and quality of water source, unit price paid per liter, and marital status were thesignificant determinants of households’ water demand. Logit regression analysis result showed that age, gender,education, connection charges and household size are the correlates of willingness to pay for improved waterservices in the study area. It is recommended that the government should facilitate the availability of good andquality public water utilities in this area as the consumers are willing to pay for such beneficial services.

The study examined farmers’ vulnerability, perception and adaptation to climate change in Kwara State. Data were collected with the aid of structured questionnaire to elicit information from 120 food crop farmers selected through a multistage random sampling technique. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, fuzzy set approach and multinomial logit model. Results show that majority of the sampled farmers were in their productive age with about 26.6% had no formal education and were predominantly small scale farmers. The study revealed that majority (84%) of the farmers believed that temperature had increased while about 65.8% noticed that precipitation had declined. The farm household vulnerability assessment showed that the average multidimensional vulnerability indices for male and female farmers are 17.5% and 27.8%, respectively, while the average vulnerability index for all the farming households is 18.4%, implying that the intensity of vulnerability to climate change is higher in female farmers and that the whole sampled population is less than 50% vulnerability threshold. The econometric investigation revealed that education of household head, farming experience, land ownership, rainfall and temperature were the most relevant and significant factors that determined the farmers’ choice of adaptation strategies to climate change in the study area. The major barriers to adaptation include lack of information on adaptation methods, land tenure problem and inaccessibility to credit.

Increasing threat of climate change is aggravating the problem of declining agricultural productivity in the face of rapid population growth. This implies that rural sustainance and food security is under threat and stress. Given that crops differ in climate requirements and economic importance, analysis of the attendant effect of climate change on specific crop remains to be adequately explored. This study uses Ricardian approach to examine the effects of climate change on maize production in Nigeria. Multistage sampling technique was employed for the study. Data were collected on 346 maize-based farming households in three different agro-ecological zones of Nigeria. Average age of the farmers and household size were 45years and 8 persons respectively. Average years of farming experience and years of schooling were 25.6 and 6.5 years respectively. The empirical results showed that maize net revenue is sensitive to climate change. Seasonal marginal impact analysis showed that increase in rainfall during rainy season increased Maize Net Revenue (MNR) in rainforest, guinea and montane savanna respectively. Marginal increase in rainfall during the dry season increased MNR in rainforest while it decreased MNR in guinea and montane savanna respectively. However, marginal increase in temperature during dry season has positive impacts on MNR in all AEZs. The predicted results using a range of climate scenarios confirm that climate change will have negative impact on maize net revenue in the future. Maize Farmers have taken adaptive measures against climate change which are changing the planting dates, changed land-use practices, mixed cropping and mixed farming. The major barriers to adaptation are inadequate credit or saving and inadequate knowledge of appropriate adaptation strategies suited for the local climate conditions.

The paper examines the determinants of child labour participation and schooling choice of children aged 5-14 years. Using data from two hundred and twelve rural households randomly selected through multistage random sampling technique from ten rural communities in Ogun State, Nigeria. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results show that about 50% of the child's mother had no formal education which invariably had detrimental effects on child schooling participation. Majority (52.8%) of the sample households are low income earners which may push children to work to supplement household income. The study shows that child labour participation is gender sensitive and that child labour and schooling increases with age. Male children of different age categories were more in schooling only than their female counterparts. Even though children work to supplement family needs, they are likely to be at receiving end because of early entry into labour force which may affect their health. Using bivariate probit modelling technique to test the interdependence of child labour and schooling choices, it was observed that there is trade off between child labour and schooling. The results reveal that parent, child, household and community characteristics determined child labour and schooling choices of children. Findings from this study affirmed the relationship between child labour and poverty. Policies aimed at improving household welfare, free education for children and adult literacy programmes are effective way to reduce child labour in rural Nigeria.

The study examined the relationship between youth associations and youth empowerment in agricultural activities in Ogun State, Nigeria. The study used primary data obtained through structured questionnaire administered to 240 respondents. A multistage random sampling procedure was used to select 20 farm youths in each of the twelve rural communities where youths are actively involved in registered agricultural associations in Odogbolu LGA and Ijebu North LGA. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. Results show that majority (88.3%) are male, single (81.37%), under the age of 30 years (80.8%) and educated (98.4%).The youths acquired various agricultural skills such as poultry production, crop production and fish production as a result of participating in the associations' agricultural activities and majority (96.7%) of them transferred the acquired skill to their personal farms. The study further revealed that youth made an average income of N103,750 per annum for their engagement in personal farm. The result of the multiple regression analysis shows that gender, educational level, length of residence in a community, income and contact with extension agents were the relevant and significant factors that determined youth participation in agricultural activities of the youth associations. The study recommends that credit facilities should be provided by the government and NGO to the young farmers, intensive campaign to encourage young school leavers and female youths into the agricultural training programme.

This paper investigate the level of child labour participation in cassava production in south-west, Nigeria. A multi stage random sampling technique was employed to select the sample respondents. Data were collected with the aid of well structured questionnaires to elicit information from 252 sampled respondents. Data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Result shows that there are structural differences in the choice of child activity options across gender and age categories. School and work activity status revealed that school enrolment of girls was 10.53% compared to boys of 25%. Also, 53.9% of the boys further their education beyond primary school level compare to 39.5% of the girls. Results further showed that while more boys were engaged in farming operations than the girls, more female children combined schooling with work. Using multinomial logit model to examined the relationship between schooling and labour force decisions, it was revealed that some variables such age of the child, biological child, quality of shelter lived, availability of schools and parents' education have a positive significant effect on schooling decision of a child while time spent on farm and cassava farm size have a significant negative relationship on child's schooling decision. Based on the above, it is recommended that for effective policy formulation to reduce child labour, all these important variables must be taken into consideration. Keyword s : child labour, participation, agriculture, Nigeria

The study focused on impact of water scarcity and drudgery of water collection on women’s health in Ogun state Nigeria. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 120 respondents (women) in the study areas. Data were analyzed using both descriptive statistics and Pearsons Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (PPMC). Finding showed that the mean age of the respondents was 35.09 years.The most striking risks of water scarcity on the health of respondents are waterborne diseases like cholera, typhoid fever, Guinea worm, hookworm, and bilharzia (19.81 percent).It affects farm work (17.39), tiredness (15.94), and low yield from farming activities (14.25 percent).The major source (27.46 percent) of water to the women in the study area is boreholes. Majority (79.2 percent) of the respondents opined that they feel tired after water collection.Correlation showed significant relationship between daily trip and duration of trekking to sources of water (r = .24**; N=115 P < 0.01) and a very strong relationship of P = 0.00 (P < 0.01). and between duration of trekking and women’s household size (r= .26*, N=115, P<0.05) and a very strong relationship of P= 0.00(P<0.05). Increased level of access of women to best sources of water supply would assist in the maximization of their potential; reduce stress and diseases that are a result of lack of potable water.

The study examined the effect of flooding on the fishing households' welfare in Lagos State. Data were collected with the aid of structured questionnaire to elicit information from 412 fishers selected through a multistage random sampling technique. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, budgetary technique and inferential statistics. Results revealed that rainfall was the dominant climatic factor that had adverse effect on the fishing communities as 81.1% of the respondents experienced loss in income due to flooding. This occurred during the raining season between May and August. Generally, respondents have higher net income during high season when there is less likelihood of flooding than at low season. This implies that during the high season when the volume of water is low, fish catch is high. The mean income for the fishers that use boat technology during low and high seasons are N51,032.38 and N105,619.47 respectively and are significantly different at 1 percent (p<0.01) The income of fishers that use motorized technology for the low and high seasons are N60,950 and N131,440 and also significantly different at 1 percent (p<0.01). The estimated parameters from the regression analysis shows that household size, membership of association, access to credit and proportion of loss due to flooding were the significant factors explaining fishers' welfare in the study area. The study revealed that fishers employed different coping strategies such as moving permanently or relocating temporarily to another fishing site where there is no flooding to mitigate loss of income as a result of flooding.