Food Security and University Agricultural Students Involvement in Food Production after Graduation

Food security and its relationship to sustainable agricultural and rural development have increasingly become matters of concern for developing countries and for the international community. While there are many complex factors that influence sustainable development and food security, it is clear that education in agriculture plays an important role. Hence, this study examined the factors that determine the involvement of final year agriculture students in agricultural production after graduation. Two hundred respondents were randomly selected and were analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square test. The results revealed that 21.6% of the respondents had good knowledge about food security, 54.6% had average knowledge, 13.4% had doubtful knowledge about food security and 10.3% had poor knowledge about food security. 50.1% believed that Nigeria is not food secure. 68.04% of the respondents plan to be gainfully self-employed in agriculture after graduation. This finding has implication for reducing high rate of unemployment and continual rise in food insecurity. Therefore, it is recommended to agricultural development planners to provide start off funds, input subsidies and land for the fresh graduates to start their farm. It was also revealed that capital, interest, knowledge, Government policy on import and academic pursuit were the major factors that altered the involvement of potential agricultural graduates in agricultural production.Keywords: Agriculture, Food Security, Production, Student, Universit

Economics of cowpea production in selected local government area of Kwara State.

Cowpea is a major and very important food in the Nigeria consumption patter. The study examines the economics of cowpea production in the study area. It reveals that respondents cultivated land ranging from 0.01 to 8.00 hectares. The average area under cowpea production was 0.98 hectares. 81.37 per cent of the farmers acquired their farm lands through family inheritance and gifts. Most of the farmers were not able to get tractor services which had a negative effect on cowpea production. Usage of local variety of seeds was more popular than improved seeds. Seed rate was found to be very high among the farmers, 65 per cent of the respondents used 30kg or more per hectare. Regression coefficients of land, labour and cost of variable input were significant at 5 per cent level and were positive for all input variables. The regression coefficient summed up to 0.8371 which implied that the farmers produced cowpea under diminishing return to scale. The marginal value produce (MVP) for land and labour, were N214.41 and N6.75 respectively. MVP of labour was lower than its average acquisition price in the study area, which shows that labour was used excessively and inefficiently.Keywords: Cowpea Production, Economics

Analysis of dried fish marketing in Kwara State, Nigeria.

This study was carried out to examine marketing of dried fish in Kwara State, Nigeria. The study used a combination of information discussions and questionnaires to collect data from 70 dried fish marketers in 2012. Data collected were analyzed with descriptive statistics, gross margin analysis and Gini coefficient analysis. The study revealed that dried fish marketing was dominated by active literate population that were most females and majority of the marketers finance their business through personal savings. Dried fish marketing channel in the study area was both centralized and decentralized. The profitability analysis suggests that dried fish marketing is a profitable venture in the study area. However, the marketing system was not efficient, indicating that the necessary marketing functions were not properly performed. Therefore, Government policies should be directed towards reducing labour cost, transportation charges, fish lost as waste and provision of credit by banks for the traders to expand their business.Key words: Dried fish, marketing, profitability analysis, marketing channel