The study examined factors that determined labor input of male and female managed farms among yam producing households in Paiko Local government area of Niger State. Primary data were used and a structured questionnaire was the instrument used to collect data. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 60 households from where 60 respondents (30 male and 30 female) were obtained. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data collected. The findings of the study revealed that 76.63% of the male respondents were aged 20-40 years, while 78.3% of the female were aged 20-40 years. Determinants of labor supply among the female managed farms had R 2 of 49% with family size, farm size and yam farming experience being statistically significant while among male managed farms, R 2 was 90.3% and farm size, age, wage rate, number of extension visits and family size were statistically significant. The major constraints to yam farming among the male yam farmers were lack of transportation and disease. On the other hand, the major constraints faced by the female farmers were time spent in household chores and transportation. It was recommended that Government should design policies that will help yam farmers to easily access loans at low interest. In order to ensure that the labor imputed into yam production is not wasted, farming inducement packages should be instituted. Such packages to be targeted at farmers include access to extension services and membership of cooperatives.

The study was aimed at analysing Gender contribution to rural household food supply in Askira Uba Local Government Area of Borno state Nigeria. Primary data were obtained from a total of 77 respondents who were randomly selected for the study. Data collected were analysed using frequency counts, percentages, and Ttest. From the analysis, it was observed that majority (38.5%) of the male respondents had household sizes of 10-19 persons whereas majority (79%) of the female respondents had household sizes of 1-9 persons. Among the male respondents, majority (74%) had farm sizes between 3.5-8.5 hectares while the majority (73.7%) of the females had farm size of 1.5-2.5 hectares. The analysis showed that there was no significant difference between household food contribution of men and women respondents. This indicated that the male respondents contributed equally with the female respondents in the study area. Lack of credit ranked as the major constraints for male respondents while access to land ranked as the major constraints for the female respondents. Based on the findings, it was recommended agricultural production inputs like land should be made more accessible to rural people.

The objective of this study was to analyze the accessibility of rural household to fuelwood in Dambao Wagaram Ward of Borno State, Nigeria. Forty households were randomly selected from where respondents for the study were obtained. Data obtained from the study were analyzed by the use of descriptive statistics. The result showed that 97.5% of respondents used fuelwood solely or complimented with other sources of domestic energy like cow dung or corn stalk. The quantity of fuelwood consumed by respondent households was an average of 6.8Kg/household/ day and 1.1Kg/person/day. When determined in monetary terms, it was found to be an average consumption cost per household per day of N81 while the average cost per person per day was N13.5. Kerosene, which was more available than other substitutes of fuelwood as domestic energy had very low sole demand (2.5%). This was as a result of its cost (N275/household/day), compared to that of fuelwood. It was recommended that more sustainable ways of consuming fuelwood should be encouraged. Furthermore, Other sources of domestic energy such as kerosene, liquefied natural gas and electricity will need to be introduced to rural women in order to reduce the rate of loss of the natural forest in the study area.

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