Browsing by Author "SA Salau"

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    A Binary Logit Estimation of Factors Influencing Awareness about Grasscutter Farming among Rural and Sub-urban Households in Kwara State, Nigeria
    (2017) SA Salau; OJ Yusuf; DF Apata; OM Adesina
    Hunting of grass cutter for food in Nigeria is unsustainable due to serious challenges posed to the ecosystems, adequate bush meat supply and human health. To enhance sustainable exploitation, grass cutter farming is desirable but large percentage of the population still lack awareness about grass cutter rearing. This study was aimed at investigating factors influencing awareness about grass cutter farming in Kwara state. A two–stage sampling technique was used to select 540 participants from rural and sub-urban households for the study. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression model were used to analyze the data. The results showed that the respondents had an average age of 46 years with an average family size of 7 persons. Majority (77%) of the respondents were males. The Nagelkerke R2 , explained 80.9% of the total variation in awareness of households. The coefficient of age, gender, household size, education, and access to credit with the t-values of -2.333, 1.959, 2.000, 2.235 and 13.832 respectively were all found to be critical in explaining awareness among the sampled households. Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended that any intervention strategy on grass cutter farming by government and international development agencies should have a capacity-building component center on educating households about the management practices and livelihood merits of farm grass cutters. Increase awareness through media should be promoted and policies like loan schemes that would substantially improve households’ access to use and acquisition of credits should be encouraged.
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    Determinants of technical inefficiency among maize-based farming households in Niger state
    (Ethiopian Journal of Environmental Studies and Management, 2013) SA Salau
    Examining the level of farm-specific technical inefficiency of maize-based farming households in Niger state of Nigeria, this study fitted cross-sectional data into a Cobb- Douglass production frontier. Data used for this study were obtained using structured questionnaire administered to 108 randomly selected maize-based farming households. Descriptive analysis and the stochastic frontier production function methodology were used to achieve the research objectives. The mean technical inefficiency is 0.357 (35.7%), implying that about 36% percent efficiency gap from the optimum (100%) was yet to be attained by all Niger State maize-based farming households. The main determinants of technical inefficiency among the households are farm income, crop production intensification and market access. Policy that would promote adoption of hybrid seeds and other inputs as well as facilitate the development of infrastructures such as roads and market facilities among farming households are therefore encouraged. The government policy of subsidizing hybrid maize seeds and fertilizers is consistent with the findings of this study.