International Journal of Agricultural Management and Development
Volume:1 Issue: 3, Sep 2011

For the purpose of sustainable exploitation of the fishery resources of Oni River, Ogun State, Nigeria, the fish biodiversity assessment was carried out. This was conductedby enumerating and identifying fish species composition, measuring the fish length, fish weight, assessing the fish abundance and biomass, determining the length-weight relationships and the length-frequency of the fishes. Altogether, 592 fishes were sampled comprising twenty-eight (28) species belonging to sixteen (16) families. The families identified included: Cichlidae, Mormyridae, Clariidae, Channidae, Malapteruridae, Gymnarchidae, Bagridae, Mochokidae, Polypteridae, Pantodontidae, Schilbeidae, Anabantidae, Osteoglossidae, Characidae, Notopteridae and Distichodontidae. The family Mormyridae was the most abundant with 163 members followed by Cichlidae with 161 members. The least represented family was Schilbeidae with only two (2) members. On the species level, Tilapia zillii had the greatest number of representation with seventy (70) members, followed by Oreochromis niloticus with fifty-eight (58) members.

The study compared economic efficiency among smallholder farmers who practiced low external input technology [LEIT] and high external input technology [HEIT] agriculturein a harsh macroeconomic environment typified by inadequate fertilizer subsidy in Imo State, Nigeria. Cross sectional data generated from 160 smallholder farmers randomly selected from 2 out of the 3 agricultural zones in Imo State were used. Profit function was used in analyzing the data. Results showed that the LEIT farmers achieved higher level of economic efficiency relative to their HEIT counterparts, although the difference is statistically non significant. It is therefore recommended that in the face of escalating costs of fertilizer, organic manure could be used. Appropriate policies should be put in place by the government to encourage livestock rearing so as to effectively utilize their bye product-organic manure. Household refuse or bio-degradable from the cities could be channeled to farms to serve as organic manure.

The study sought to determine whether pastoralists have resorted to sale of livestock as a form of insurance against commercialization of cattle rustling in which well structured and managed cartels have organised more intense and frequent cattle raids on pastoralist, and how their decisions have affected their herd size. The study was conducted among the pastoral Baringo community of Kenya. A sample size of 110 households was selected using multi-stage sampling procedures and interviewed using a questionnaire. Binary Probit Model and Ordinary Least Squares were used in the analysis. Results indicated that cattle rustling, particularly in its predatory state significantly contributes to spontaneous sale of livestock even under very low prices that in themselves could be described as raiding. The results further indicated that the number of livestock lost through cattle rustling dominated livestock sale and hence reduced herd size and the numbers of livestock available for sale. The insecurity generated by cattle rustling, coupled with the poor marketing infrastructure make market inaccessible by both buyers and sellers, resulting to increased poverty and dependency amongst the pastoralists. Consequently, pastoralism has become a source of misery rather than source of livelihood.

The purpose of this study was to determine the importance of eleven professional competencies related to needs assessment and program development; a secondary purpose was to identify the best time these competencies should be learned. The study followed a survey research design, in which 441 randomly selected extension educators in the North Central Region of the United States responded to a questionnaire through an online survey. Results suggest that respondents perceived nine of the eleven competencies as highly important for their professional development. High percentages of the respondents also reported that six competencies should be learned on the job. Stepwise regression analysis revealed the demographics of “gender” and “education” as statistically significant predictors in determining respondents’ perceptions. Findings indicate a need for flexible staff development programs for extension educators through graduate education, in-service programs, and on-the-job training. Findings have implications for designing new policies for employee selection, training, professional development, and performance appraisal. Further study was recommended to determine whether the findings would be valid at the national level.

One of the ways to ensure food safety is to educate the public. Of the organizations providing food safety education in the United States (U.S.), the Cooperative Extension System (CES) is one of the most reliable. The effectiveness CES programs depends not only on what is being taught but also on how it is taught. Both a needs-based curriculum and how that curriculum is delivered are equally important. This descriptive cross-sectional study using a disproportional stratified random sample identified the teaching methods and tools being used by food safety extension educators of the CES of North Central Region (NCR). A Likert-type scale administered to extension educators revealed that they were adopting a balanced use of teaching methods and tools, and using learner-centered teaching methods in their programs. However, distance education, case studies and podcasts, which are commonly used in education programs, were not being used extensively. We recommend that food safety extension educators of NCR should increase the use of these two teaching methods and tool while continuing to use the current ones. This study has implications for improving food safety education delivery to clients in the NCR and for designing inservice education for food safety extension educators.

After the war with Iraq which ended in 1988, Iran implemented several agricultural support policies based on Five-Year National Development Plans. The main objective of these plans in the agriculture sector was to make the agricultural economy more market-oriented and to encourage sustainable agriculture. This paper investigates the extent to which Iran's government has been able to achieve this objective in the case of wheat. For this purpose, Producer Support Estimate (PSE) and Consumer Support Estimate (CSE) indicators for Iranian wheat are calculated and discussed. Generally, producers’ and consumers’ support is achieved chiefly by distorting market prices. As will be shown, from 1989 to 2006, the PSE increased about 20 times (in real prices), while the level of production increased 1.69 times. However, the PSE had no significant causal relationship with either wheat yield or its area under cultivation. With respect to consumers’ support, this was found to be positive for Iranian wheat, a result that is uncommon for most developed and developing countries. Recent agricultural policies in Iran do not appear to encourage international competitiveness for wheat and are making the wheat economy more dependent on support prices. We suggest that policy makers reconsider the method of subsidization and the pricing system, at least in the case of wheat.

In this study, the situation of Iran, U.S and Turkey's Pistachio export is investigated. to this purpose, Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) Index is calculated based on Agricultural and total economy export, separately, then forecasted by using Auto- Regressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) approached, for 2008-2013. The results show that considering both commodity baskets, Turkey and Iran had comparative advantage in Pistachio export in 1982-2007, but U.S did not. Also, forecasting RCA index, based on both commodity baskets, show the improvement of U.S Pistachio export situation, unlike the values of RCA index forecasting for Iran and Turkey is falling. Therefore, it is recommended that Iran and Turkey attempt to identify new consumer markets in order to retain their market shares in pistachio export. Following the U.S imposed policies during last six years which improved its pistachio export, Iran and Turkey can increase their market shares.