Suchergebnisse

Road infrastructure is crucial to farmers' productivity, transportation, marketing of food produce and food security. Therefore, this study examined the effects of road infrastructure to plantain production among farmers in Ekiti South Local Government Area. Multistage sampling procedure was used to select 103 respondents for the study; data were collected using structured interview schedule. Data on respondents' personal characteristics, perceived contribution of road infrastructure to plantain enterprise and constraints to plantain production and marketing were analysed with descriptive statistics, Chisquare and Pearson Product Moment Correlation statistical tools. Majority (75.7%) of the respondents were males, large percent (70.8%) were ageing (50-70years), 71.8% cultivated 4-6 acres with a majority (79.6%) having more than 20years of farming and marketing experience. Almost half (47.6%) of the respondents earned between #31,000-#40,000 monthly and majority (78.6%) indicated that their farms to the market were far and not motorable. About (65%) indicated that poor road infrastructure had negative implication on production and marketing of plantain. Educational level (χ2=14.13), farm size (χ2=0.932), monthly income (χ2=7.938), farming experience (χ2=11.831), marketing experience (χ2=10.609), farmers age (r = -0.375) and constraints to production and marketing (r = 0.261) were significantly related to effects of road infrastructure on plantain production. Hence, it is recommended that government should ensure quality rural feeder roads linking urban areas for sustainable farming practices, reduction of postharvest losses and efficient plantain marketing.

Safe childbirth is crucial to farmers' productivity and food security as farm labour plays a pivotal role for farming in most rural communities. Analysing gender roles on maternal health care (MHC) decision is of major concern in ensuring safe motherhood and poverty reduction in rural homes. Therefore, this study analysed gender concerns of MHC among rural farmers. Multistage sampling procedure was used to select 124 respondents for the study; data were collected using structured interview schedule, Focus Group Discussion, descriptive and inferential statistics. Respondents (χ = 29 years) were in their youthful and procreating stage with average family size of 4 members. Husbands (64.5%) mainly decided the MHC utilised for childbirth. More females (54.8%) belonged to cooperative society. About (56.5%) of males and females (53.2%), respectively were crop producers having average monthly earning of #19,000. Most predicating factors to MHC decision were family tradition ( χ= 2.21) and social capital (χ = 2.18). Males (61.3%) had high level of MHC decision unlike the females (54.8%) with low contribution to MHC decision. Monthly income (r=0.521), responsibility for decision making (r=0.668) were significantly related to respondents decision on MHC. There was a significant difference in the level of decision making between males and females (t=5.28, df =31). Hence, it is recommended that non-governmental organisation should collaborate with the government to aggressively sensitise rural communities on safe motherhood and men should sufficiently empower women to contribute and participate actively in decisions on maternal health care in rural families for sustainable food production and supply.