The present study considered the current state of internet of things in Nigeria, future prospects and challenges to the usage of the technology in Nigerian Agriculture. In Nigeria, IoT has been used to dispense feed and water to chicks, virtual fences for monitoring farmlands and forest trees, cashless sales and purchases of farm produce and input, monitoring and management of staff performances on the farm and e-wallet for input, loan and information accessibility on agricultural issues. However, there is room for improvement in the area of security for the animals (animal tracking), weather forecasting and realtime soil monitoring, livestock and crop health surveillance. Challenges faced in the usage of IoT in Nigeria are inadequate/lack of capital, skilled manpower, facilities. In conclusion, IoT has great potentials to move Nigerian agriculture to an enviable position.

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Profitability of a livestock business has a great influence on its sourcing, distribution and sustainability. Thus, this study was carried out to determine the profitability of goat enterprise. A total of sixty respondents were randomly selected from two major markets in Ado-Ekiti metropolis (Shasha and Oja-Oba markets). Data were collected through the use of structured questionnaire coupled with personal interview on socio economic characteristics of the respondents, cost and returns from goat marketing. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics and budgeting analysis. The results on socio economic characteristics showed that goat marketers were predominantly married (63.3%) and relatively old (with a mean age of 58 years) in the study area. Profitability of a livestock business has a great influence on its sourcing, distribution and sustainability. Thus, this study was carried out to determine the profitability of goat enterprise. A total of sixty respondents were randomly selected from two major markets in Ado-Ekiti metropolis (Shasha and Oja-Oba markets). Data were collected through the use of structured questionnaire coupled with personal interview on socio economic characteristics of the respondents, cost and returns from goat marketing. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics and budgeting analysis. The results on socio economic characteristics showed that goat marketers were predominantly married (63.3%) and relatively old (with a mean age of 58 years) in the study area. The costs and returns analysis showed that mean Total Variable Cost (TVC) incurred in the marketing of goats per annum was N489, 700.00 while the mean Total Revenue (TR) was N720, 000.00 and the mean Gross Margin (GM) per seller was N230,300.00. The results implied that goat marketing in the study area is a profitable business involving both young and old, male and female, educated and illiterate.

Abstract-In

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.