Agriculture

In this paper, the availability and economic importance of some selected Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) among rural households in Nigeria were investigated. The National Living Standard Survey (NLSS) data collected by Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics were used for the study. A number of forest products activities were found to be of importance to the livelihood of households in the study area. These include hunting, honey processing, palm wine tapping, fruit processing, hides, and mushroom gathering. About 17% of the respondents were engaged in hunting, 17.43% in honey processing, 17.36% in palm wine tapping, and 15.85% mushroom gathering. With respect to income generation, the most important of these activities is palm wine tapping with income share of 87.51%. The results also show that the poor were found to be more dependent on the forest than the non-poor, while households from the Southern zones were more forest dependent than households from the Northern zones. It is recommended that research should be conducted into breeding of early maturing species of these valuable trees that are being cut down at an alarming rate to guarantee future availability for food, medicinal and livelihood purposes.

Trials were carried out using five maize varieties in Ibadan, Oyo state Nigeria in 2010 and 2011 maize cropping seasons. The varieties were planted in a randomized complete block design of three replicates. The objective was to evaluate the relationship existing among various growth and yield components as they contribute to grain yield. The result showed that varieties differed significantly in days to 50% flowering, field weight and number of kernel per cob (P<0.05), leaf area, ear length and 1000 grain weight (P<0.01), plant height and grain yield/ha (P<0.001). ART98-SW5OB and Obatanpa were superior in almost all the agronomic traits evaluated while ART98-SW6 OB was least in plant height and produce flowers earlier than the other varieties. Years, variety and years of evaluation interaction were however not significantly different. Ear length correlated positively and strongly with plant height and number of kernels per cob (P<0.001). Plant height and other agronomical traits were positively associated with grain yield except days to 50% flowering and numbers of kernel per cob. Growth and yield components are related in one way or the other; hence selection for secondary yield traits that correlate positively with primary yield components is fundamental to the overall grain yield development in maize.

Vertical Integration remains a critical concept for organizational that seeks to own activities along the supply chain with an aim of gaining control of activities within their line of business. In most organizations vertical integration as a strategy once adopted along the supply chain, seeks to have an effect on value addition, cost reduction and control of the activities the organization has owned through vertical integration. The general objective of the project was to identify and evaluate the effects of vertical integration on the performance of agricultural commodity business. The theoretical review established the effects of vertical integration towards the performance of agricultural commodity business. The specific objectives of the study discussed the effects of ownership of warehouses; transport ownership, supplier relationship management and distribution ownership on the performance of agricultural commodity business in Export Trading Co Ltd. The study was conducted through a descriptive design to describe the effects of vertical integration on the performance of the agricultural commodity business. Stratified sampling technique ensured success of coming up with a sample size of 45 respondents from the target population of 148. Primary and secondary data was collected for the research, a semi structured questionnaires was used to collect primary data while press releases, journals, company website will provide secondary data. The primary data will be analyzed through Statistical Program of Social Studies SPSS (Version 20). The study conclusion gave percentage variations of warehousing, transport, distribution and food processing on the performance of agricultural commodity business. This provided a strong practical value from the results to assist future parties of interest within the subject of vertical integration with proper understanding of the subject.

The study was carried out for determine the amount of input- output energy used and indices of energy and economic of fattening farms under different farm sizes in Qazvin city of Iran. For this purpose the data were collected from 30 fattening farms. The surveyed farms were classified into three groups of small (less than 50 heads), medium (50 to 150 heads) and large farms (more than 150 heads).The total average energy input of 24003 MJ calf -1 was required for fattening farm. The share of feed by 75% of the total energy inputs was the highest energy input. This was followed by fossil fuels (16%) and young calf (4%), respectively. The energy use efficiency, energy productivity, Specific energy, and net energy were found as 0.009 (kg MJ-1), 114.8 (MJ kg-1) and -20553(MJ calf-1), respectively. According to the study results, the contribution of indirect energy was higher than that of direct energy; also the share of renewable energy was more than that of non-renewable energy. Economic analysis showed that total average cost of production was 909.8 ($ calf-1). The benefit-cost ratio and productivity were 1.1 and 0.22 (kg $-1), respectively. The results showed that medium farms in terms of economic and energy indexes lower position than the small and large farms. So, they should change their scale to achieve higher efficiency.

To assess the impact of textile and dye industrial effluent on soil and crops, the pot culture experiment carried out with maize crop to determine the effect of dye and textile factory effluent in combination with amendments (poultry manure, green leaf manure, biocompost, vermicompost). This study revealed that application of CETP sludge @ 5 t ha-1 + poultry manure @ 5 t ha-1 + NPK increased the soil organic carbon, available N, P, K, Ca, Mg and micronutrients (Fe, Cu, Mn, Zn) in soil under treated effluent irrigation compared to river water irrigation. The sodium content and ESP of soil increased under effluent irrigation. However, it did not produce any toxic effects to the crops. This showed that the treated effluent could be safely used for irrigation along with poultry manure @ 5 t ha-1 and NPK.

The effluent and sludge generated from various industries are being dumped into the environment, causing various hazards on a long run. At the same time, these wastes contain essential nutrients. So utilization of such wastes for crop production can enhance the availability of nutrients and enrich soil organic matters that ultimately increase the growth of crops. Gypsum, pressmud, Farm yard manure, ETP sludge were tried to ameliorate the textile and dye effluent polluted soil habitat, using sunflower (CO4) as a test crop. The sludge along with effluent irrigation added considerable quantities of cations (calcium, magnesium and sodium) to the soil system. Addition of amendments had a strong influence in enhancing the soil quality parameters like exchangeable calcium. Application of pressmud @ 5 t ha-1 along with 100 per cent GR + NPK reduced the soil ESP by 44.96 per cent. The heavy metal content were also reduced due to addition of pressmud. Application of 100 per cent GR + pressmud @ 5 t ha-1 + NPK under effluent irrigation increased the crop growth, yield attributes (head diameter, head weight, seed test weight) and yield of sunflower in effluent polluted soil habitat. The yield under pressmud amended plots was 36 per cent higher over control. Reclamation and restoration of textile dye effluent polluted soil habitat is possible by leaching the soil with 100 per cent GR followed by application of pressmud @ 5 t ha-1 and recommended NPK.

An on farm trial (OFT) was conducted during the year 2013 and 2014 to identify a suitable variety in upland situation through direct seeding in bio-physical and socio-economic condition of Chatra district. Experiment was conducted in Mardanpur village of Chatra block of Chatra district of Jharkhand where NICRA Project is under operation. The trial was designed in randomized block design consisting of 20 replications with five technological options i.e. TO1 : Farmers variety (Motkagora) with farmer practice N30P20K0, TO2 : Vandana with improved practice N40P20K20, TO3 : Anjali with improved practice N40P20K20, TO4 : Virendra with improved practice N40P20K20 and TO5 : CR-40 with improved practice N40P20K20. Farmer’s preference was also measured through a 5 points rating scale. Results indicated that TO3 i.e. improved variety Anjali with N40P20K20 under direct seeded condition in rain-fed Tar-III was found most suitable followed by TO4- Virendra with improved practice N40P20K20 and TO2 Vandana with improved practice N40P20K20 .

Gypsum, pressmud, farm yard manure, ETP sludge were tried to ameliorate the textile and dye effluent polluted soil habitat, using sunflower (CO4) as a test crop. The sludge along with effluent irrigation added considerable quantities of cations (calcium, magnesium and sodium) to the soil system. Application of pressmud @ 5 t ha-1 along with 100 per cent GR + NPK reduced the soil ESP by 44.96 per cent. The heavy metal content were also reduced due to addition of pressmud. Higher microbial population was also observed under effluent irrigation than well water. Application of 100 per cent GR + pressmud @ 5 t ha-1 + NPK under effluent irrigation increased the crop growth, yield attributes (head diameter, head weight, seed test weight) and yield of sunflower in effluent polluted soil habitat. The yield under pressmud amended plots was 36 per cent higher over control. Reclamation and restoration of textile dye effluent polluted soil habitat is possible by leaching the soil with 100 per cent GR followed by application of pressmud @ 5 t ha-1 and recommended NPK.

After several promotional activities carried out by different stakeholders the improved rice production technologies have not reached the farmers field. A study was conducted to identify the constraints faced by farmers in adoption of the improved rice production technologies. The study was conducted in five purposively selected blocks of Chatra district. In five randomly selected, one each from the selected blocks, villages 40 rice growers were selected randomly as respondents for each village covering 200 respondents in the study. Constraints identified by the respondents were grouped into six categories i.e. ecological, technological extension – related, infrastructural, economic & socio- cultural constraints. Results indicated that undulated topography and gravelly soil (94.5%) high fertilizer requirement in HYVS (89%) fragmented and scattered holdings (94.5%) inadequate advice and guidance by the charge agents (41%), low price of produce (98%) and open grazing of cattle (92%) perceived to be important constraints which diminished the adoption of improved rice production technologies.

The present study was carried out at farmers fields in Simdega district of Jharkhand during Kharif 2013 and 2014 to evaluate the effects of different methods of transplanting/seeding on yield and economics of medium land rainfed rice. The experiment was conducted with four methods of transplanting/seeding {T1: Farmers practice (Transplanting of 25-30 day old seedlings, more than 5 seedlings/hill at uneven distance and two manual weedings.), T2 : Cultivation under modified SRI (10-12 days old seedling, 25x25 cm2 spacing, single seedling/hill, two weeding by cono weeder and regular ponding of rain water in field.), T3 : Sowing of sprouted seeds by drum seeder and weeding two by cono weeder., T4 :Conventional practice (Transplanting of 20-25 days old seeding, 2-3 seedling/hill at 20x20 cm2 and two mannual weedings.) in 10 replications at farmers filed under RBD. All growth, yield attributing characters, yield and net return was found significantly highest in modified SRI (T2) followed by conventional method. Conventional method and sowing by cono weeder were found at par. The lowest performance was found under farmers practice.