There have been controversies surrounding the actual effect of 'green' product labels in influencing consumers towards eco-friendly behaviours. While some claim that the proliferation of private business standards are confusing rather than assisting eco-friendly consumers in their green purchasing decisions, others posit that it has had significant positive effect in influencing consumers towards 'green' purchasing. Still yet, some others found neutral effect of 'green' labels on consumer behaviour. The objective of this critical review is to determine if available evidencebased studies on the use of 'green' labels support or contradict the above claims, using a systematic review approach. This review adopted an analytical framework developed by Gupta et al. (2006) for modeling the impact of business programs on customer lifetime value (CLV). The result of the analysis confirmed varied effect of eco labels among different classes of consumers and for different products in developed and developing economies. Further evidence abounds of both positive impacts (customer acquisition and sustained patronage of eco-labelled products) and negative impacts (confusing/discouraging consumers due to generic information or high price of eco-labelled products). There is also little evidence of no impact, which suggests that eco-labels alone may not be sufficient to influence consumer behaviour. Further empirical research on the impact of eco-labels on product utilization and disposal was recommended.

Plantain marketing offers great profit-making, yet it is unclear if these have translated to more profits, making it imperative to examine the drivers of plantain marketing. Primary data collected with structured questionnaire in purposive 2-staged random sampling were analyzed using net marketing income, marketing margin, marketing efficiency and multiple linear regression models. Plantain marketing was mainly done by married educated women, averaged 40 years of age, belonging to households averaging 6 persons. Net monthly profit of $63.51 (₦26,050.38), average marketing margin of 30.84% and marketing efficiency of 35.06% were returned. Suggesting plantain marketing is profitable and viable but largely inefficient. Cost of plantain and marketing experience were positively significant (p≤0.05). Plantain marketing faced constraints like seasonality of plantain, inadequate finance, price fluctuations, high transportation costs, bulkiness, spoilage/breakage and high plantain costs. Plantain marketers should form/join cooperatives to obtain low-interest loans, mitigate marketing costs and enjoy economies of scale.

This study examined the effect of interest rates on access to agro-credit by farmers in Kaduna State, Nigeria. This study employed survey research methodology which covered the three agricultural zones in the study area. The data generated were analyzed using descriptive statistics, multiple regression and 4-point likert scale rating. It was shown that, majority (40%) were aged between 31 and 40 years and about 41.20% had no formal education while 16.7% had secondary certificate. The study further revealed that about 48.3% of the respondents had farming experience of 20 years and above and majority (41.67%) sourced a total amount of between N100, 000 and N400, 000 from formal or informal sources. Age, level of education, interest rate, credit awareness and farm income were the major determinants of (p<0.05) credit sourced by the farmers in the study area. Majority of the farmers obtained their credit more from informal sources than formal sources. Inability to receive the amount applied for, risk of repaying the money and problem of getting guarantors were among the major problems under informal sources while high interest rate and inadequate collateral security were for formal sources. Recommendation was made for government to reduce the high interest rate charged on credit facilities.

This study examined the constraints faced by rice processors in milling and branding of home grown rice produced in Enugu State, Nigeria. The objectives of the study were to examine the factors that influence the branding of home grown processed rice and examine the major constraints in processing home grown produced rice into high quality rice. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to survey 23 respondents across three communities in three local government areas and two agricultural zones selected. Factor analysis, mean and percentages were used to analyse the data collected. Findings showed that along the unit of home grown rice branding, packaging is the only form of branding carried out by processors. The factors that influenced the branding of home grown processed rice in the study area were grouped into four which include inability to appreciate new technology, non-availability of required technology, labour and cost of packaging materials. Also, the major constraints in the processing of home grown rice to improved quality brands are grouped into five factors which are inability to appreciate new knowledge, new technology, communication on storage facilities, labour and marketing information. Rice processors should be trained adequately on branding and improving the quality of home grown processed rice and provision of the required technology. This will improve the competitiveness of home grown rice relative to imported rice thereby increasing its demand.Keywords: Rice processing, branding, constraints, factor analysis, Enugu State

Rural and small holder famers in Nigeria and other developing countries have low capital base and poor access to finance. The inability of these farmers' access to adequate credit has increased the problem of low efficiency in production. Inadequate credit supply is a major problem with which other production factors may exert negative influence on farmers' output and efficiency. In ascertaining the sources and accessibility of credit by crop farmers in Enugu-Ezike in Enugu State, Nigeria, the sources of credit to farmers, the socioeconomic characteristics of crop farmers' that have access to credit, access to credit constraints and possible ways of improving farmers' access to credit were investigated. Primary data collected through the administration of questionnaire were analysed using descriptive statistics and probit regression. Results showed that most crop farmers obtained credit mainly for farming and have accessed credit through informal sources, with friends and relatives being the most popular source. Majority of the farmers, who obtained information about credit through phone calls agreed that there were no delays in loan approval. Although, probit regression revealed that the independent variables (gender, age, marital status, education, household size, farm size, membership of cooperatives and farming experience) were not significant in jointly affecting access to credit at all probability levels, however, membership of cooperatives had an individually negative significant relationship with access to credit at the 10% (p<0.10) level. Recommendations that will improve access to credit include: increasing farmers' access to information; reducing loan acquisition rigidity; reducing interest rate; having bank account; establishment of community and agricultural banks in the rural areas with simple procedures for securing loans; and the mobilization of farmers into groups to maximize the benefit of collective investment or group savings.