Browsing by Author "Tsado, J. H."

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Assessment of efficient utilization of production inputs among women rice farmers in Niger State, Nigeria
(Proceedings of the 52nd Annual Conference of the Agricultural Society of Nigeria, 2019) Yusuf, A.; Tsado, J. H.; Salihu, I. T.; Abdullahi, A.
Rural women have feature prominently in rice production enterprise, specifically; up to 70% of the rice produced in Africa comes from women (FAO, 2011). In Niger State, rice is traditionally regarded as a product of women. Women living in this area are having high knowledge about traditional farming methods of rice production. However, low productivity coupled with stiff competition posed by importers over the years has restrained the women farmers from earning significant returns from their investment and this has created rice production deficit. To minimize the effect of the rice production shortfalls on state demand, several efforts have been made by successive governments together with donor partners in a form of implemented projects to increase rice production. However, this effort is still ineffective due to limiting factors such as: inadequate institutional support (access to credit, research and extension), inappropriate production system, inadequate basic infrastructures, production risk and inefficiency on the part of the farmers. In light of these assertions, the challenging question to this review is that ‘can women rice farmers improved on their technical efficiency to reduce production risk and increase output’? Thus, this review seeks to assess the efficient utilization of production inputs among women rice farmers in Niger State, Nigeria.
Perceived Benefits of Farmers’ Cooperative Societies on Rice Production in Selected Local Government Areas of Abuja, Nigeria
(Journal of Agricultural Economics and Extension Technology JAE2 S2, 2(1), 2019) Salihu, I. T.; Tsado, J. H.; Dauda, S. N.; Abdullahi, A.; M. Ibrahim; Ovaioza, S.
This study examined the perceived benefits of farmers’ cooperative societies to rice production in selected local government areas (LGAs) of Abuja, Nigeria. Using a structured questionnaire complimented with interview schedule, data were collected from 120 respondents selected from four cooperative societies in the study area through a multi-stage sampling technique. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics and linear regression analysis. The result showed that the respondents mean age was 46years and about half (50.8%) had up to at least secondary education. Majority (83.4%) of the respondents had been involved in rice cultivation for the past 15years but only 5.8% had only been members of rice cooperative for more than 10 years. The respondents’ perceived benefits of cooperative society on rice production with higher mean scores include “cooperative gives advice on the quality of seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides, and cropping practices” (WM = 4.68), “helped in facilitating access to better market” (WM = 4. 57), “enlightening and educating members on new improved farm practices and access to farm inputs” (WM = 4.50). The linear regression analysis results revealed that the R2 value was 0.8445, meaning that over 84% of the variables included in the model accounted for the variation in the dependent variable. The educational level, marital status and farmers output were respectively, significant at 1% level of probability. On the hypothesis, there is a significant difference between the rice output produced by farmers before and after joining the cooperative societies (t-cal (5.211) > t-critical (1.00). Complicated administrative procedure, poor membership contribution, lack of trust among members, discriminating attitude of cooperative officials and inability to access loan/credit were the major problems faced by the cooperative members. Therefore, it was recommended that Agricultural stakeholders should encourage farmers to operate a functional cooperative that could facilitate credit and group dynamism.