Proper utilization of land is essential to soil quality maintenance and sustainable agricultural development. This study was conducted to evaluate effects of land use management on physico-chemical characteristics of soils in Ekiti State, Southwestern Nigeria. In this study, a total of 105 sampling points in 35 locations comprising of the 3 land uses were sampled. Random sampling pattern of 3 sampling points per location were carried out and undisturbed soil samples were collected at depths up to 30 cm. Soil physical properties (bulk density (BD), water holding capacity (WHC), and particle size distribution) and chemical properties (organic matter content (SOM), cation exchange capacity (CEC), phosphorus (P) and organic nitrogen (SON)), were determined and evaluated. Results showed that natural forest on the overall accumulated more nutrients than plantations and cropland. The highest SOM value of 4.07 % was recorded in the natural forests, while the lowest value of 1.52 % was found in the croplands. Organic matter accumulation showed a decreasing trend in the order: forest > plantation > cropland. Natural forest soils had significantly higher volumetric moisture content (VMC) than plantations and croplands. Correlation analysis of the 11 physico-chemical properties for the study area, showed a significant correlation among 70 of the 190 soil attribute pairs. Land use system reveals a significant decline of soil quality under cropland. Management systems by which soil could be improved towards the development of suitable agricultural management systems must be incorporated during land cultivation. In order to have sustainable land use systems, land use development must not be only economically sustainable but also socially acceptable and environmentally sound. Therefore, strategies to improve agricultural productivity have to seek a sustainable solution that better addresses soil fertility management.

Nigeria is a signatory to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Target 6.2 of Goal 6 has requested countries who are parties to the SDGs to end open defecation by 2030. Notwithstanding this, the Government of Nigeria launched a far more ambitious National Road Map in 2016 to end open defecation in the country by 2025. Since water and sanitation are inextricably linked, this paper estimates Nigeria's freshwater requirement to attain open-defecation-free status by 2025. The analysis revealed that the quantity of freshwater required amounted to between 2.74 and 2.94 × 106 cubic metres (m3) per day or between 1.0 and 1.1 × 109 m3 per year under the assumptions made. This amount is relatively less than Nigeria's total water resources potential estimated at 375.1 × 109 m3/year. The data presented will help increase the reliability of estimates of water for sanitation in Nigeria.

Physical properties of three varieties of mango were studied at 13.75% and 8.74% moisture content levels. Some selected properties such as geometric mean, arithmetic mean, angle of repose, sphericity and crushing force were determined. The average tri-axial dimensions of the seeds gave 38.00 ± 6.8, 42.23 ± 4.12, 33.95 ± 6.91 as average major diameter; 35.60 ± 5.68, 39.18 ± 3.95, 31.44 ± 7.56 as average intermediate diameter and 24.76 ± 5.2, 28.42 ± 5.59, 23.08 ± 3.67 as average minor diameter for Kerosene, Sheri and Sugar mango respectively. The average sphericity of the three varieties of mango seed was 0.74, 0.77 and 0.67 while that of the angle of repose was 40.430, 08.030 and 09.760 for Kerosene, Sheri and Sugar mango respectively. The average crushing force determined using the universal testing machine gave 21.00 N, 10.58 N and 9.46 N for Kerosene, Sheri and Sugar mango respectively. Statistical analysis shows that there is a significant difference in the geometric mean between Kerosene mango and Sheri mango and no significant difference between Sheri mango and Sugar mango, while the average value of the calculated arithmetic mean was found to be statistically different within the three varieties but no significant difference in sphericity. Kerosene mango has the highest value for the angle of repose and crushing force.

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