African Journal of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development

African Journal of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development ISSN 2375-0693 Vol. 13 (4), pp. 001-009, April, 2025. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Beyond Financial Services: Evaluating the Impact of Microfinance Banks on Poverty Alleviation in Rural Nigeria

Akangbe H. O., Olajide O. Adeola* and Ajayi A. O.

Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Ibadan, Ibadan-Oyo State, Nigeria.

Accepted 14 February, 2025

Poverty is a large and growing problem in Nigeria resulting in an immense amount of unavoidable suffering. Part of the panacea for the situation includes the policy on the establishment of microfinance banks. This paper aims at investigating the effectiveness of these banks at improving the status of their customers. The rural community was purposively selected because of the presence of three microfinance banks in the area. A total of 80 questionnaires were administered using systematic random sampling technique. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, delay time index and the multinomial logistic regression. The results show that the respondents were mainly within the active working age and that different factors constrain men and women’s access to loans. Delayed loan disbursement and high interest rates are the constraints common to both male and females in accessing loans. Further tests with the delay time index revealed that 75% of the respondents experienced delays. The poverty index showed that more male respondents were in the core and moderately poor groups. The multinomial logistic regression showed that the period of loan repayment and marital status are two factors that keep respondents below the computed poverty line. It is therefore recommended that microfinance operators go beyond financial services to include business management and social development in the array of programs/services targeted at the poor.

Key words: Nigeria, poverty, microfinance, men, women.
 

African Journal of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development ISSN 2375-0693 Vol. 13 (3), pp. 001-007, March, 2025. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Impact of Farmer Field Schools on Banana Xanthomonas Wilt Control and Banana Production Recovery in Uganda

Kubiriba J.1*, Karamura E. B.2, Jogo, W.2, Tushemereirwe W. K.1 and Tinzaara W.2

1National Agricultural Research Organisation, P.O. Box 7065, Kampala, Uganda.
2Bioversity International, P. O. Box 24384, Kampala, Uganda.

Accepted 10 February, 2025

Banana xanthomonas wilt (BXW) remains a major threat to banana, an important food and income crop for 12 million poor small-holder farmers in Uganda. Although, BXW has been controlled to some extent in parts of South-western Uganda, it is still a big problem in banana growing areas of Central and Eastern Uganda. We hypothesized that differential success in BXW control is mainly due to approaches used in the BXW control. This paper therefore, evaluates stakeholder mobilization approaches used in promoting technologies for BXW control in Uganda between 2006 and 2009. Results showed that farmer field schools host communities had more farmers (33%) that had low or no BXW infection (<10 infected plants) as compared to smaller proportions (23.5%) of farmers from communities that were using community action or that were mobilised using the traditional approach (22.9%) to control BXW. There was higher BXW prevalence in communities that were using community action (68.8%) or were mobilised traditionally (66.3%) than in those that hosted farmer field schools (43.4%). Consequently, there was higher (53%) banana production recovery on farms that hosted farmer field schools than those that used other institutional approaches (22%). BXW was better controlled by farmers mobilised using farmers field schools than those mobilized through community or traditional approaches.

Key words: Banana Xanthomonas wilt, stakeholder mobilization, control, technology promotion approach.
 

African Journal of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development ISSN 2375-0693 Vol. 13 (3), pp. 001-006, March, 2025. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Economic Analysis of Bt Cotton Cultivation in Andhra Pradesh, India: A Comparative Study of Output and Input Efficiency

A. Balakrishna

Department of Economics and Applied Economics, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur (District), Pin- 522510, Andhra Pradesh (State), India. E-mail: [email protected]. Tel: 0 9491666772.

Accepted 14 February, 2025

Since the introduction of Bt cotton in India, there has been a serious debate going on its impact on cost, returns and productivity. Andhra Pradesh continue to be the largest cultivator of Bt cotton in India and it occupies third position among Indian cotton growing states both in terms of area as well as outturn. In this context, it would be appropriate to analyze the output and efficiency of inputs used in cotton cultivation in Andhra Pradesh state of India. The study is based on a sample survey of selected farmer households in cotton cultivating villages in Andhra Pradesh of India. The study used Multi-stage stratified random sampling method to select the respondents from among the farm households. A detailed structured questionnaire was used to conduct face-to-face interviews with the farmer households. The sample households among the cotton cultivating households who have cultivated non-Bt cotton during last year or last two years have been taken up to study the impact of the presence of technology. In order to ensure the accuracy of the data related to the previous year, care is taken in selection of farm households, those households who have maintained records. The data on input and output variables like cost of seed, cost of labor, cost of irrigation, cost of fertilizers, cost of pesticides and capital used for the both years were collected for the study. To overcome the conceptual problems in quantifying the impact of technology at two points of time, the value of inputs used and output produced was estimated at constant prices based on survey year’s price. Also, it is considered the two periods used for the comparison are normal in terms of agro-climatic variables. The Cobb-Douglas production and decomposition analysis techniques were used to estimate the influence of factors and Bt technology on output change. The results of the estimated production functions reveal that seeds and fertilizer is the most important input to which output is highly responsive in both Bt and non-Bt cotton crop situations. The output elasticity of pesticide is higher in non-Bt cotton cultivation than that in Bt cotton cultivation. The decomposition revealed that the net impact of Bt technology alone is estimated to have increased the output by 10.88%. The adoption of Bt technology enabled the farmers to save inputs significantly. And the value of extra output produced per acre with adoption of Bt technology.

Key words: Bt technology, Bt cotton, decomposition of output change, non Bt cotton production function, resource use efficiency, input and output.
 

African Journal of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development ISSN 2375-0693 Vol. 13 (4), pp. 001-007, April, 2025. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Microsatellite Marker-Based Identification of the ‘eui’ Gene Influencing Uppermost Internode Length in Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Pawan Khera¹*, M. G. Gangashetti^{1, 2}, Sukhpal Singh^1,3, K. Ulaganathan⁴, H. E. Shashidhar¹ and W. H. Freeman¹

¹Barwale Foundation, Research and Training Centre, Hyderabad, India.
²Pioneer Overseas Corporation, Hyderabad, India.
³Advanta India Limited, Hyderabad, India.
⁴Centre for Plant Molecular Biology, Osmania University, Hyderabad, India.

Accepted 14 November, 2024

Abstract

Development of cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) lines with elongated uppermost internode (EUI) trait is a desirable alternative to eliminate the use of GA3 in hybrid rice production. In this study, a simple and reliable PCR based, simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers was identified, for the eui gene to facilitate marker assisted selection (MAS). A total of 28 SSR markers, mapped in the vicinity of the genomic clone AC130605 (PD0010D04), were chosen for assessing the polymorphism between IR58025B and IR91-1591-3. A set of 151 F2 plants derived from the cross IR58025B/IR91-1591-3 were surveyed using 15 polymorphic SSR markers. Analysis using MAPMAKER 3.0 revealed that seven SSR markers viz., RM6054, RM3870, RM3476, RM5970, RM7801, RM7446 and RM3620 were linked with eui locus at the genetic distance ranging from 1.0 to 7.1 cM with EUI phenotype. Furthermore, these markers were validated in – F2 (IR58025A/IR91-1591-3) and backcross (IR58025B/IR91-1591-2//IR58025B) population segregating for eui gene. The SSR markers reported in this study might be useful for the incorporation of eui gene into CMS lines of rice through marker-assisted backcrossing.

Key words: Rice, cytoplasmic male sterility, elongated uppermost internode, microsatellites, marker assisted selection, panicle exsertion.

African Journal of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development ISSN 2375-0693 Vol. 13 (4), pp. 001-005, April, 2025. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Examining the Effects of Super Nitro Plus on Yield and Yield Components of Two Wheat Varieties with NPK Fertilizer Application

Rouhollah Rouzbeh¹, Jahanfar Daneshian^1,2 and Hossein Aliabadi Farahani³*

¹Islamic Azad University of Takestan branch, 10 km Quzwin-Zanjan highway, Azad University of Takestan, Faculty of
Agriculture, Iran.
²Seed and Plant Improvement Institute (SPII), P. O. Box: 4119, Mardabad Road, Karaj 31585, Iran.
³Islamic Azad University of Shahr-e-Qods Branch, Iran.

Accepted 7 September, 2024

Abstract

To evaluate the beneficial impact of biological and chemical fertilizers application on wheat (Triticum aestivum) some yield characters were investigated. Our objective in this study was the interactive effects of biofertilizer (BF) and chemical fertilizer (CF) applications on: quantity yield at Iran in 2006. In this respect, the experimental unit had designed by achieved treatments in factorial on the basis completely randomized block design with four replicates. Certain factors including five levels of fertilizer (100% CF application; 75% CF and 25% BF applications; 50% CF and 50% BF applications; 25% CF and 75% BF applications and 100% BF application respectively) and two wheat cultivars (Omid and Alvand) were studied. Our final statistical analysis was indicated that in the 50% CF and 50% BF applications, yield components were significantly higher. Those such as: biological yield, seed yield, stem dry weight, ear dry weight, awn dry weight, leaf dry weight, plant height, leaf number per main stem and spikelet number per spike were higher in unites by 50% CF and 50% BF applications together cultivated. Although the wheat cultivars treatment significantly increased yield components and harvest index. However highest yield components were produced by Alvand cultivar but highest plant height was obtained by Omid cultivar. Our finding may give applicable advice to farmers for management and concern on fertilizer strategy and carefully estimate chemical fertilizer supply by biofertilizer application.

Keywords: Biofertilizer, chemical fertilizer, biological yield, seed yield, harvest index, wheat cultivars.

African Journal of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development ISSN 2375-0693 Vol. 13 (4), pp. 001-009, April, 2025. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Assessing Predicted Outcomes of Various Recurrent Selection Strategies on Maize (Zea mays L.) Population Development

S. O. Ajala², C. E. Ago¹ and G. Olaoye³*

¹National Cereals Research Institute, P. M. B 5042, Ibadan, Nigeria.
²International Institute of Agriculture, P. M. B 5320, Ibadan, Nigeria.
³Department of Agronomy, University of Ilorin, P. M. B 1515, Ilorin, Nigeria.

Accepted 7 September, 2024

Abstract

A maize population was subjected to three different selection procedures to determine the best method for its improvement in a study conducted at Ibadan, Nigeria. Considerable genetic variability existed within the population for effective selection for each of the traits considered, using any of the procedures namely full- sib, half-sib and S1 family selection. Heritability estimates were from moderate to large for most traits. Direct selection for grain yield is expected to result in favourable increases in other traits except that the selected materials will flower earlier. Since increases in plant height due to selection for grain yield is undesirable, it was concluded that the best selection method for yield improvement that will increase height, the least would be full-sib family selection.

Keywords: Recurrent selection, predicted responses, maize.