No abstract

Information sources play a vital role in improvement of artisanal fish farming, however, the different sources of information do not receive equal attention by artisanal fishers, and as a result the worth assessment of information sources used by artisanal fish farmers in selected coastal states of Nigeria was conducted. The study was carried out in the coastal States of Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwa Ibom in Nigeria. The data for this study was obtained from primary sources using questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistical analysis was employed. The result from the findings indicates that the majority of artisanal fish farmers were male (79.90%). Artisanal fish farmers are predominantly adults as the result shows that most (43%) fall within the age bracket of 41 -50 years. Few of the respondents (23 =5.2%) have been engaged in fish farming for the past 15 years and above. Majority (88%) of the artisanal fish farmers had one form of education or the other. Majority of artisanal fish farmers 243 (55%) earn monthly income between ₦11,000 -₦50,000. Coastal artisanal fishers' information is highly motivated by farmers groups, Posters, Neighbour farmers, Co-operatives, Community leaders, Cell phones, Extension agents, Church meetings, input dealers, Output buyers and Credit agencies. The regression analysis revealed that there is significant relationship between the socio-economic characteristics of artisanal fish farmers and their information worth assessment. The researcher recommends that government and non-governmental agencies should provide literacy programmes to improve the education background of artisans and also provide comprehensible sources of information to enable artisans understand and increase output.

The future and welfare of mango farmers are important and if mango farmers can apply agribusiness behavior, namely perseverance, resilience, hard work, saving, carefulness, discipline, and respecting time, they stand a better chance of survival during a pandemic. How mango farmers’ livelihood will be going forward is, yet unknown since many aspects such as economic, physical, financial, and human factors of their way of earning a living are affected hugely by Covid-19. This study was conducted to determine the socio-economic nature of mango farmers in Vhembe district Limpopo province, determine the livelihoods of mango farmers after the Covid-19 pandemic, and identify challenges that mango farmers encountered during the Covid-19 pandemic. Descriptive statistics and household were employed to help analyze the results from the collected data. In the study area, 77% of the farmers were males and pensioners since they were above the age of 60. Currently, mango farmers are highly impacted by the outbreak of Covid-19 in terms of production and marketing their products, thus these changes in their livelihood and their survival in farming are in the line since 54% of the farmers currently have access to loans, which makes it easy for them to cover for their loss of income. The government should ease up other restrictions on farmers to enable them to farm and issue necessary support to those farmers who have lost the least they had due to Covid-19. Concerning access to information about Covid-19, the results of the study posit the significance of the relationship between finance and human capital, which the study recommended that the government should subsidize the farmers.

The need to develop the technical expertise and skills of extension agents on value added fish production in order to ensure that they are properly equipped to meet the changing needs of their clientele led to this study. The paper analysed the competency needs of extension agents on value added fish production in Kwara State, Nigeria. A structured questionnaire was used to elicit information from the total population (total population sampling) of extension agents in Kwara State Agricultural Development Programme (KWADP) due to the relatively small number of extension agents in the organisation. The results showed that the extension agents had a mean age of 40.3 years. The majority of the respondents (72.3%) were male, married (88.2%), with an average household size of five persons. Most of the extension agents (75.6%) had ordinary National Diploma certificates and above in their level of education with an average of eight years' experience in the extension profession. Competency upgrade (training) was needed in 10 areas of value added fish production skills and knowledge and the respondents highlighted seven severe constraints militating against their acquisition of needed competencies in value added fish production. Chi-square analysis revealed that respondents' areas of competency needs in value added fish production were influenced by their age, gender, level of education, and years of experience. The study acknowledges that there is a need for the KWADP to develop robust training programmes for extension agents on value added fish production skills in order to enhance their competence in rendering information and advisory services to farmers for a more profitable regime for fish farmers in the study area.