Prospects of Cooperative Society for Sustainable Agriculture Among Smallholder Farmers in Benue State, Nigeria
Attah Agbo Joseph,
Mbah Evangeline Nwakaego,
Okeke Margaret Ngozi
Issue:
Volume 4, Issue 5, September 2018
Pages:
103-109
Received:
15 September 2018
Accepted:
30 September 2018
Published:
14 November 2018
Abstract: The study was conducted to ascertain prospects of cooperative society for sustainable agriculture among smallholder farmers in Benue state, Nigeria. Data were collected from eighty (80) respondents using questionnaire. Frequency, percentage, mean score and factor analysis were used for analyzing data collected for the study. Findings indicate that about 39% of the respondents were aged between 41 and 50 years while 7.5% were aged above 60 years, among others. A greater percentage (63.8%) of the respondents were males with majority (88.8%) being married, 40% of them acquired tertiary education with 50.0% having a household size of 1-5 persons while 68.8% had farming as a major occupation. Savings and contributions (57.0%) were major sources of fund for cooperative society. Major reasons for joining cooperative society were access to credit facilities (38.8%), greater access to farm inputs (26.2%), raise standard of living (11.2%), among others. Results on benefits of cooperatives society include access to information (94.5%), increases members income and food security (91.8%), high productivity/ increase in output (90.4%), easy access to loan facilities (89.0%), improved market competition and expanded market opportunities (89.0%), pulling of resources together (86.3%), easy access to credit facilities (80.8%), greater access to farm inputs (75.3%), availability of labour (61.5%), etc. Factors influencing performance of cooperative society were named institutional, funding and input- related variables. The study recommends that there is need for timely provision of farm inputs for the farmers in order to increase productivity for sustainable agriculture. Adequate awareness campaign is needed in ensuring that farmers become members of cooperative society so as to pull their resources together for greater productivity.
Abstract: The study was conducted to ascertain prospects of cooperative society for sustainable agriculture among smallholder farmers in Benue state, Nigeria. Data were collected from eighty (80) respondents using questionnaire. Frequency, percentage, mean score and factor analysis were used for analyzing data collected for the study. Findings indicate that ...
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Investigation of Spring Irrigation and Tillage to Control Overwintering Chilo suppressalis (Walker)
Shuijin Huang,
Guanghua Luo,
Wenjing Qin,
Cheng Gan,
Guoquan Wu,
Rongzai Xu,
Lianghui Lei,
Lu Zhang,
Zhaojun Han,
Yang Sun
Issue:
Volume 4, Issue 5, September 2018
Pages:
110-116
Received:
4 October 2018
Accepted:
30 October 2018
Published:
29 November 2018
Abstract: Overwintering larvae and pupae are the most important source of first generation of Chilo suppressalis (Walker) in early spring. Aging larvae and pupae harbor strong stress-tolerance and also potential pesticide resistance. Therefore, at present, irrigation and tillage are mainly used for killing the first generation of C. suppressalis. However, the efficiency of this method was not clear. To study the exact efficiency, overwintering larvae and pupae were collected from rice straw in field. And they were placed in water to test their tolerance to immersion indoor. The control effect of irrigation and tillage was tested in field and repeated in different years. As a result, in tolerance experiment, the mortality of aging larvae was less than 50% on day 8 and reached 80% on day 12. The mortality of pupae reached 75% within 72 hours. In the field, the escape rate of larvae was the highest on day 1 (4.49%), after which time it gradually decreased. The cumulative escape rate was 7.89% within 4 days. When the fields were tilled immediately after immersion, the cumulative escape rate decreased to 1.05%. There was no significant difference in escape rate with different tillage depths. This is the first study to systematically investigate the control effect of irrigation and tillage on overwintering C. suppressalis. And the results showed that aging larvae of C. suppressalis had strong tolerance to immersion. But the tolerance of pupa to water was relatively weak. Tillage could effectively reduce the escape rate of aging larvae. So, “Tilling immediately after irrigation” was recommended in early spring. This will provide guidance for agricultural control of C. suppressalis.
Abstract: Overwintering larvae and pupae are the most important source of first generation of Chilo suppressalis (Walker) in early spring. Aging larvae and pupae harbor strong stress-tolerance and also potential pesticide resistance. Therefore, at present, irrigation and tillage are mainly used for killing the first generation of C. suppressalis. However, th...
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