No abstract

This study examined the use of antenatal services among women in farming communities in Kogi State, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling technique was employed to collect primary data from 150 randomly selected farmers through the use of structured questionnaire. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics and logit regression model. Analysis of socio-economic variable revealed that majority (73.4%) of the respondents were below the age 40 years, with a mean household size of 6 members. About 94.7% of the respondents used antenatal care services covering an average distance of 4km in getting to nearest health facility. The study also revealed that majority (92.7%) of the respondents were aware of healthcare facilities availability and they mostly got their information from family members and friends. The use of antenatal care services among women was high and majority (95.3%) of the respondents had the knowledge of where antenatal centre is located. Also majority of the respondents visited those centres in their last pregnancy with frequency of visit between 1- 4 times. Previous visits, nearness to ANC centres and formal education positively influence the use of ANC services among women in the study area. High cost of antenatal services and poor level of information were found to be the most significant challenges facing women access to antenatal care services.  We recommend that government should subsidize health care services for women in order to improve their affordability.

This study examined the economic and scale efficiency in processing cassava into gari in Ankpa Local Government, Kogi State. Data were collected from 120 cassava processors through a multistage sampling technique in 2019 using questionnaire as the instrument for data collection. Data collected were analyzed through the use of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), ordinary Least squares regression analysis and simple descriptive statistics. The result of the study revealed that about 8.33% and 63.33% achieved full technical efficiency (TE = 1) under the CRS and VRS respectively while 12.50% achieved both full allocative and economic efficiency. About 8.33% achieved full scale efficiency. These efficiency scores revealed the presence of considerable level of inefficiency and room for improvement in order to become fully efficient. The returns to scale analysis revealed that majority of cassava processors (about 90%) are operating under increasing returns scale implying that most of the firms in the sample are too small and therefore would benefit from an increase in scale. The OLS result showed that household size, experience and education are the most important and significant factors affecting both technical and economic efficiency of the processors in the study area. We recommend that processors should be encouraged to form and join viable cooperatives where they can access credit, information, training and processing facilities in order to improve their efficiency.