Few years ago National Centre for Agricultural Mechanization (NCAM) launched melon sheller to reduce burden of obtaining melon oil and cake, and to enhance rural women’s productivity. This study looked at the productivity of promoted melon shelling technology and preference by rural women in Nigeria. Data were gathered from the NCAM workshop and survey of melon processors in Niger State. In the workshop, it was found that time allowed for soaking melon and covering with piece of clothes contributed to the productivity of the sheller. Results from survey revealed that 95.1% of the respondents’ preferred Internal Combustion technology and 90.2% liked electric-driven melon shellers over the manual one. Also, 69.5% obtained the shellers from local fabricators rather than NCAM. The technology led to increased turnout of melon (378kg/hr) and reduced wastages to 1.26kg out of 75.6kg. The study concluded that the promoted melon sheller is efficient and have positive implication on the rural women’s productivity and revenue. The study recommends that the rural women should put the melon sheller into its maximum capacity use. The NCAM should extend training to the local fabricators so that they can improve on the technology most especially in the areas of winnowing and washing of melon kernels.

Melon is a popular economic cucurbit in Southwest, Nigeria. In recent time, many young farmers are shifting from melon to watermelon farming due to poor yield and low monetary returns. Hence, this study was carried out to assess decline in melon yield and its contribution to young farmers’ diversification into watermelon farming in Oyo state, Nigeria. Purposive sampling technique was used in selecting 75 respondents from five villages in Ibarapa block of the Oyo State Agricultural Development Project (ADP). Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC). Results show that majority of the respondents (77.3%) were between 31-40 years of age and 46.70% had secondary school education. Most of the respondents (80%) cultivated more than 3 ha of land for watermelon. Majority of the respondents (74.7%) intercropped melon with other crops while watermelon was cultivated as a sole crop. None of the respondents either grew improved melon seeds (certified seeds) or applied fertilizers but all respondents cultivated treated watermelon seeds, applied fertilizers and agro-chemicals. The average yields of melon fell from 376.53kg/ha in 2009 to 280.70kg/ha in 2011. However, the respondents were shifting into watermelon production because of available quality seeds and its early maturity, easy harvest and high sales. There was a significant relationship between melon output and young farmers’ diversification to watermelon in the study area at p < 0.05. The study concluded that decline in the melon yield discouraged youth to continue melon farming in the study area. It is hereby recommended that certified melon seeds should be made available while extension service providers should provide training support for the young farmers in order to reposition and boost melon production in the study area.

Beef is an important animal protein source in Nigerian diet and its quality depends on intrinsic and extrinsic attributes. Hence, this study was carried out to assess veterinary inspection practices on quality of beef produced in Ibarapa Central Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria. The findings of this study showed that the butchers were young with mean age of 40.51years and 95.70% were males. All the respondents strongly agreed that facilities such as lighting, carcass carriers, security fence and cooling facilities had never been provided in the study area. The result also showed that 45.70% of the respondents always cleaned the abattoir's environment once in a week or at month end, and dungs and wastes were dumped around the abattoir. None of the respondents neither hang the beef in the open air nor put it in a deep freezer but always displayed the beef on the table for customers to see. However, all the respondents allowed customers to touch the beef. It was revealed that ante-mortem inspection was always carried out by the Veterinary Officers attached to the abattoirs. The prominent challenges to quality of beef produced are lack of essential infrastructure, training and workshop for the butchers on hygiene practices and use of modern processing equipment. It can be concluded that beef production is a lucrative venture in the study area but the hygiene practices is below Codex Alimentarius recommended standard. It is hereby recommended that the veterinary officers should intensify effort on ante-mortem and post-mortem inspections while health extension workers and other stakeholders should organize a training/workshop on hygiene practices that will improve the quality of beef produced in the study area.

This study investigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on agro-inputs distribution  and sales along the agricultural supply chain (ASC) in gun State, Nigeria. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 96 agro-dealers from the Abeokuta and Ilaro ADP zones of Ogun State. Data were collected and analysed using a computer assisted personalized interviewing (CAPI) system. Findings showed that 89% of the respondents sold agro-inputs in the shops, 26% in the rural villages, and 19.8% at market stands. Due to the lockdown, 68.8% closed down shops for 35 – 39 days, 92.7% found it difficult to move agro-inputs from the stores to the villages, and 85.4% incurred high costs in transporting agro-inputs from urban to the rural areas. Likewise, 61.5% reported low patronage of fewer than 10 customers per week while the average weekly sales dropped from ₦60,000 to 15,600 for maize seeds, ₦78,000 to 27,000 for herbicides, and ₦336,000 to 120,000 for fertilizers. The lockdown was significantly affected patronage (β = 0.64) and sales (β = 0.72). The COVID-19 pandemic affected patronage and sales of agro-inputs in Ogun State.