Abdulazeez Hudu Wudil

Food insecurity remains a structural impediment to rural welfare in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), with smallholder farming households in northern Nigeria among the most severely affected. This study examined the socioeconomic determinants of food security among farming households in Kano State, Nigeria, with emphasis on the role of institutional credit access, using the Food Consumption Score (FCS) methodology. Data were collected through semi-structured face-to-face interviews using multi-stage cluster sampling and analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square analysis, one-way ANOVA, and multiple linear regression. Slightly fewer than half of the sampled households met the food-secure threshold, and food security status was significantly associated with the level of access to institutional credit, with a noticeable gap in food security status between high-access and no-access households. Multiple regression confirmed that access to institutional credit, farming experience, and farm size were significant and positive determinants of food security, while household size was a significant negative determinant. These findings demonstrate that institutional credit is an important, policy-actionable pillar of rural food security in Kano State Nigeria, best pursued alongside corresponding investments in farmer experience-transfer, land access, and household welfare.

Agricultural policy is generally concerned with the development of agriculture and increasing the rate of production per acre and per man. The study assessed the Nigerian Agricultural policy from 1960 to 2023 by the use of data obtained from World Bank. The objectives of this article were to; identify variables related to agriculture and to assess these variables based on the data obtained. Maximum values added in % GDP (8.83), %GDP of current currency (36.9), in constant 2015 US$(9.81), in constant local currency (9.52), in current US$ (9.88), in annual % growth (55.9) and per worker in constant 2015 US$ (4669). Agricultural land % of land area accounted a maximum value of 75%, in 2019 with a minimum value of 59% in 1961. Similarly, the arable land in % of land area had a maximum of about 40% in 2019, while agricultural land in sq. km had a minimum of 541,760 sq km in 1960 with a maximum of 686,440 sq. km in 2020. The food production index had a mean of 52.18, while fisheries production had a mean of 384,179, 078 metric tons and agricultural production had a mean of 72,207,875.1 metric tons, cereal yield had a mean of 1,187.9 and a mean crop production index of 52.94. Food exports has declined from a maximum 65% in 1962 to minimum of 0.02% in 2001 with a mean of 15% while food imports had increased with a maximum of 30.6% in 2011, a minimum of 8.1% in 1968 and mean...

The study examined small ruminants’ production for poverty reduction among rural women in Kano state, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 387 respondents, and data were collected using semi structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed using frequency count, percentage, gross margin, coping strategy index and multiple regression analysis. The results revealed that rearing of small ruminants was profitable but goat was more profitable than sheep. About half of the respondents (49%) were classified as poor. The respondents outlined that revenue obtained from the rearing small ruminants assisted them to settle many socioeconomic obligations including weeding and naming obligations, settling festivities right and helping their relative among other things. The coping strategies adopted by the respondents includes; reducing expenditure on non-food items, selling animals or other household assets and borrowing from friends and relatives. Regression analysis result revealed that years of experience, educational level, cost of feeding the animals and cost of medication influence revenue small ruminants. To improve productivity and growth, emphasis should be put on mass media campaign to create awareness to women producers of small ruminants on the need to access functional education and training that could improve their business.

The participation of young people in agriculture is crucial in generating job opportunities and fostering the growth of agri-food systems in developing countries, particularly in Africa. This study aims to provide an in-depth review of existing studies on young people’s perceptions and factors influencing their participation in agribusiness. Additionally, the study aims to investigate the impact of the skill training intervention on youth engagement in agribusiness. The study also identifies and analyzes the constraints that hindered their engagement. The PRISMA guideline was followed to analyze 57 studies across Sub-Saharan Africa. Studies published from 2012 to 2022 were retrieved from various digital libraries, such as Google Scholar, Emerald Insight, Taylor & Francis Online, Wiley Online Library, and Science Direct. The review findings highlight that many young people in Africa view agriculture as a profitable industry and a means of subsistence. However, it was also observed that there are divergent opinions regarding agribusiness among young individuals. Factors such as access to finance, education, skills training, perceived social support, and prior experience in farming emerged as critical determinants influencing their decision to engage in agribusiness. Moreover, the study reveals that skill training programs positively impact youth participation in agribusiness. These interventions enhance their skills, increasing productivity, income, and employment opportunities. Nevertheless, access to finance and other essential resources, such as land and extension support, were identified as significant barriers to the involvement of young people in agribusiness. In order to promote the advancement of agri-food systems in Africa through youth participation, youth policies must prioritize access to various resources, including but not limited to capital, education, skills training, land, extension support, social support, mentoring, and private-sector involvement.

This study assessed the equity in irrigation water uses and its impacts on paddy yield and water productivity among rice farmers in the Kano River Irrigation Project. Two hundred and twenty-five (225) respondents were used for the data collection from January to June 2021. The data were analyzed using the Kruskal Walli’s test, Tukey kramer post-Hoc test, physical water productivity, and the Logit model. The results indicated that the downstream farmers had the lowest mean yield (1625 kg/acre), lowest access to irrigation water, and lowest irrigation water use (2430 m³/acre). However, they had the highest water productivity (0.66 kg/m³) against 0.44 kg/m³ and 0.58 kg/m³ for middle and upstream farmers, respectively. The logit regression results disclosed that the farm locations, quantity of irrigation water, access to irrigation water, and training on water use were statistically significant determinant of paddy output. Efforts to teach farmers about the actual crop water requirements are needed to promote irrigation water efficiency and conserve scarce resources for other competing users.

Due to global and regional climatic dynamics for a couple of decades, agricultural productivity, rural livelihood, and food security have been badly affected in Pakistan. This study was conducted in Punjab, Pakistan, to explore the farmers’ understanding of the impacts of climate change, adaptation strategies, determinants, and benefits on agriculture using data from 1080 respondents. Perceived risks by the farmers in the rice-wheat cropping system and the cotton-wheat cropping system were weed infestation, seed rate augmented, low-quality seeds, infestation of crop diseases and pests, change of cropping pattern, increase of input use, decrease of cropping intensity and productivity, decreasing soil fertility, increasing irrigation frequency, and increase of harvesting time. To alleviate the adverse influences of climate change, the adaptation strategies used by farmers were management of crop and variety, soil and irrigation water, diversification of agriculture production systems and livelihood sources, management of fertilizer and farm operations time, spatial adaptation, access to risk reduction measures and financial assets, adoption of new technologies, institutional support, and indigenous knowledge. Moreover, the results of Binary Logistic Regression indicate that adaptation strategies are affected by different factors like age, education, household family size, off-farm income, remittances, credit access, information on climatic and natural hazards, information on weather forecasting, land acreage, the experience of growing crops and rearing of livestock, tenancy status, tube well ownership, livestock inventory, access to market information, agricultural extension services, and distance from agricultural input/output market. There is a significant difference between adapters and nonadapters. The risk management system may be created to protect crops against failures caused by extreme weather events. There is a need to develop crop varieties that are both high yielding and resistant to climate change. Moreover, cropping patterns should be revised to combat the effects of climate change. To enhance farmers’ standard of living, it is necessary to provide adequate extension services and a more significant number of investment facilities. These measures will assist farmers in maintaining their standard of living and food security over the long term to adapt to the effects of climate change based on various cropping zones.

In the face of declining water resources and low agricultural water productivity, it is vital to increase agricultural production efficiency and efficiency of water usage. The efficacy of irrigating rice fields in Nigeria is evaluated here using a stochastic frontier analysis. This is a parametric frontier that is assumed to have half-normal distribution, allowing the model to be separated from normal errors in a composite error model. Samples of 382 surveys were used in the study; out of the total number, 361 surveys were retrieved and used for the analysis. The analytical tools used in the study are: gross margin, water productivity analysis, and stochastic frontier approach. The results indicate an average yield of 4.69 and 4.94 tons/hectare, and net farm income of $415 and $364 for the farmers using canal irrigation and farmers using tube wells, respectively. The results also showed physical and economic water productivity of 0.51 kg/m³ and $0.11/m³ for canal water users, and 0.568 kg/m³ and $0.10/m³ for tube well users. The canal water users had a mean irrigation water use efficiency of 0.76, compared to 0.70 for the tube well users. The study recommends that effective extension services and their coverage be enhanced to provide adequate training to rice farmers on water use efficiency and the transfer of innovations and farming technologies to farmers.

All around the world, inequalities persist in the complex web of social, economic, and ecological factors that mediate food security outcomes at different human and institutional scales. There have been rapid and continuous improvements in agricultural productivity and better food security in many regions of the world during the past 50 years due to an expansion in crop area, irrigation, and supportive policy and institutional initiatives. However, in Sub-Saharan Africa, the situation is inverted. Statistics show that food insecurity has risen since 2015 in Sub-Saharan African countries, and the situation has worsened owing to the Ukraine conflict and the ongoing implications of the COVID-19 threat. This review looks into multidimensional challenges to achieving the SDG2 goal of “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture” in Sub-Saharan Africa and the prosper policy recommendations for action. Findings indicate that weak economic growth, gender inequality, high inflation, low crop productivity, low investment in irrigated agriculture and research, climate change, high population growth, poor policy frameworks, weak infrastructural development, and corruption are the major hurdles in the sustaining food security in Sub-Saharan Africa. Promoting investments in agricultural infrastructure and extension services together with implementing policies targeted at enhancing the households’ purchasing power, especially those in rural regions, appear to be essential drivers for improving both food availability and food access.

Income diversification is examined in two ways: as a change in agricultural activity, or as an increase in the number of income sources. The primary source of income for rural Nigerian is agriculture. This study is conducted to access the level of income diversification among beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of Kano River irrigation Project. The result indicated that crop production account for 65% of the beneficiaries’ household income, with other agricultural activities accounting for 18% of the total. While non- agricultural activities account for only 18%. For the non-beneficiaries the result indicated that crop production accounts for 44% of their income other agricultural activities (Fishing, livestock, poultry,) account for 13%, while Non-agricultural activities account for 43 percent of their income. Income diversification is found to be influenced by (age, household size, cultivated area, educational attainment, credit constraints, and annual income. The results show that these elements need to be examined by decision makers in the development of agricultural and non-agricultural projects in this study area.