Poultry production at all levels appears to be lucrative and profitable but many factors appear to limit the involvement of rural dwellers in this sector. This study was carried out at Oluyole Local Government Area Oyo State to assess the level of involvement of rural dwellers in small scale poultry farming. Some parts of Oluyole local government were purposely selected for this study because of higher  concentration of rural dwellers that are involved in poultry production. A total of ninety five respondents were sampled and had a well-structured questionnaire administered to them to determine their socio economics characteristic, their level of involvement, benefit  derived and constraint faced in poultry farming. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics of frequency counts, percentage and  means, Chi-square and Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) at 0.05% level of significance. The results show that majority of the respondents were males (61.1%), married (68.8%) and have tertiary education (59.1%). Majority (50.5%) of the respondents were between the ages of 31-45years. Socio-economic characteristics such as age, region, sex, educational level, household size and income had no significant relationship with the respondent’s level of involvement in small scale poultry farming (P<0.05). Results on level of involvement shows that most (48.8%) of the sampled correspondents were involved in boilers production. The study also shows that the benefit derived in poultry farming remained the same regardless of the level of involvement of the farmers in various poultry activities, with r –value (0.177), p-value (0.089) indicating that the relationship is not significant (P<0.01), it also indicated that the relationship between the  constraints facing the respondents and their level of involvement is not significant with r –value (0.154). Also, the major constraints facing the respondents included difficulty in accessing loan and quality feed. Government should therefore make loan facilities at affordable interest rate while all the stake holders should work together to improve farmers’ access to quality feed, vaccine, technical know-how and adequate extension workers.

This study was carried out to assess effects of wood harvesting on the livelihood of forest communities in Ibarapa region, southwest, Nigeria. The  study was conducted to identify the various livelihood activities engaged in by forest communities in the region; to assess how wood harvesting in the forests has affected the livelihood of the people in the region as well as to determine the factors influencing wood harvesting in the region. Three hundred copies of structured questionnaire were used to elicit information from the respondents. Focused Group Discussion and Key Informant Interview were also used. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression. Results show that various livelihood activities were engaged in by the respondents, prominent among which were food crop production, cash crop production, charcoal production, among others. Among the factors that were responsible for wood harvesting in the region, only age, occupation, household size and the distance of respondent’s house to the forest were significant at 5%. It was observed that excessive wood harvesting has negatively affected the forests in the study area as most of the forests have been greatly degraded. This study recommends that the activities of forest communities should be regulated by local authorities and governments, at different levels, in order to sustain the forests in the region. Key words: timber, charcoal, lumbering, regression, fuelwood

This study examines the consumer’s perception of white meat among household in Ibadan north local government area of Oyo state, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling was used through questionnaire to gather information from 110 respondents used as a sample size for the study. Data were analyzed through the use of descriptive statistics tools such as frequency and percentage, while inferential statistics such as chi-square and PPMC were used for the hypotheses. The result of the study revealed that majority (63.6%) of the respondents were married, also in their active age (93.2%) and engaged in trading and civil service work as their primary occupation. Also, majority (55.5%) had up to secondary education and tertiary school level with household size 1-5.The result further revealed that 52.4% of the respondents had unfavourable perception of white meat consumption while 47.6% had favourable perception. Also, better cholesterol content (53.6%) and reduced health risk (51.8%) were some of the perceived benefits of white meat considered by respondents. Constraints such as high cost of white meat (99%) and low income (88%) were considered as major constraints to white meat consumption. Chi-square analysis revealed that marital status(X2=18.693, P=0.028), education(X2=17.753, P=0.038) and primary occupation(X2=18.266, P=0.032) of respondents were found to have significant relationship with their perception of white meat consumption at 0.05 level. Also, PPMC analysis showed that there was relationship between perceived benefits and perception for white meat at 0.05 level of significant. The study, therefore, recommends that the enlightenment programmes on nutritional benefit of white meat consumption should be promoted for consumers to have right perception.

There is a gendered colouration of food insecurity with more women than men being adversely affected. Yet, social norms regarding the roles of men and women appear to be traditionalistic and unfavourable to economic advancement among women thereby limiting their chances of being food secure. This study was therefore designed to examine gender role attitudes as it affects food insecurity while controlling the role of financial status among women in Ibadan metropolis. The work is a cross-sectional survey which featured the administration of 650 copies of a largely structured questionnaire among randomly and systematically selected women in Ibadan, Nigeria. Variables were measured with multi-item scales. Pearson r was used to assess relationships between pairs of gender role attitude, education, age and food insecurity. Partial r was further used to assess the relationship between gender role attitude and food insecurity while controlling for financial status. One way ANOVA was used to assess significant differences in means across sub-groups of marital status while post hoc test (LSD) was used to identify homogenous sub-groups. Simple percentile analysis shows that 39.1% of respondents arbitrarily held traditional attitude towards gender roles while only 12.2% were non food insecure. Gender role attitude was significantly and positively related to food insecurity (p<0.05) and this relationship was sustained even when financial status is controlled for (p<0.05). Marital status had a main effect on food insecurity (p<0.05). Education was significantly and negatively related to food insecurity (p<0.05) but age was not (p>0.05). The pattern of gender role attitude is quasi-traditional. Egalitarian disposition to gender role is yet to be firmly rooted and food insecurity is still a plague among women in the study area. Gender role attitude is consequential for food insecurity regardless of financial status among women. Being unmarried or married as opposed to being divorced or widowed and increasing education serves protective roles against food insecurity but age does not.

This study examined the various forms of agroforestry technologies adopted by the farmers as well as assessed the factors influencing the adoption of agroforestry technologies among farmers in the study area. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select the respondents from the study area. Both descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages as well as inferential statistics such as Logistic Regression model were used in the study. From the study, it was discovered that adopters of agroforestry technology accounts for 42.47%, while non-adopters accounted for 57.53% of the sampled respondents. The result further shows the different forms of  agroforestry practices adopted by the farmers in the study area which includes boundary planting, multipurpose trees/shrubs, wind breaks and live fencing. The result of the analysis of the factors that influence the adoption of agroforestry technologies among farmers from the logistic regression analysis revealed that access to extension services, age, education, farming experience, farm size and gender were positive and significant factors in determining the adoption of agroforestry technologies among the farmers.