Plant Nursery Operations and Management, A Case Study of Forestry Unit, Agriculture and Natural Resources Department of Gombe Local Government, Gombe Nigeria.

 ADAMU, S.J,¹    MAHMOUD, A.B.²,  and PAUL, P.³

¹Department of Geography, Gombe State University, Tudun Wada Gombe, Gombe State, Nigeria.

²Department of Biological Sciences, Gombe State University Tudun Wada Gombe, Gombe State, Nigeria.

³Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Gombe Local Government Secretariat, Gombe State, Nigeria.

E-mail: sanidaddy@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

A study of plant nursery operations and management was conducted at the forestry unit, Agriculture and Natural Resources Department of Gombe Local Government, Gombe State. By way of sowing seeds either directly in the ground/in nursery beds/polythene bags or by way grafting, transplanting, cross-breeding, root-pruning etc, and follow by watering of the plants(morning and evening), application of fertilizer monthly and application of pesticides once in a while to boost the soil fertility and prevent/control any pest attack respectively. The result indicates that to produce healthy and viable plants in a nursery, some necessary conditions and requirements must be met such as; viable seeds, favorable temperature , appreciable level of moisture, a fertile and good soil with good water retention capacity. It was recommended that before the establishment of any plant nursery a study of plant characteristics must be conducted alongside climatic conditions of the area such as rainfall, humidity and temperature before choosing the type of plants to grow there for the attainment of Sustainable Development for the benefit of the present and future generations.

Comparative Studies of Effect of Composts and NPK Fertilizer on Performance of Maize in Crude Oil Polluted Soils

¹ONIBON V. O., ²ADESANYA W.O., and ³FOLORUNSO O.R.

^1&2Department of Basic Sciences, Federal College of Agriculture, Akure, Nigeria.

³Department of Animal Health and Production, Federal College of Agriculture Akure Nigeria

E-Mail: voonibonfeca@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

Exploration and production of crude oil, in Nigeria was envisaged to generate strong economic foundation for the country and better dwelling place for human and living organisms. But crude oil exploration had brought untold hardship to people living in the oil producing area regarding their health and living status. Therefore the achievement of sustainable and cleanup equitable environment cum environmentally sound agriculture in the fragile, inherently infertile soil with low productivity remains one of the greatest challenges facing people, most especially in oil producing area of Nigeria. The site for this experiment was polluted with crude oil from the area. The polluted soils were later treated after two weeks with different composts composition (PW + SD + CR), (MW + SD + CR), (CD + SD + CR) and fertilizer and left for two weeks before maize were planted on the soils.

Keywords:  Crude Oil, Soil Pollution, Remediation, Composts, Heavy Metals.

Assessment of Farmers Perception on Adoption of Improved Rice (Nerica) Technology in Kwami Local Government Area of Gombe State, Nigeria

Musa H.Y, Umar M.R. and Zakari H.

Department of Agricultural Extension and Management Taraba State College of Agriculture Jalingo.

E-mail: hammawa.musa@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

The study was conducted in Kwami Local Government Area of Gombe State, Nigeriato investigate Adoption of Rice Technology. The specific objectives were to describe the socio-economic variables of the respondents, determine the adoption levels of rice farmers and find out any relationship between the farmers socio-economic characteristics and their adoption constraints. Data were collected from 120 respondents drawn from the study area using multi-stage sampling techniques. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics such as frequencies, percentages and regression analysis. The major findings on socio-economic characteristics revealed that 34.7% of the respondents were between 31-40 years of age, 60.2 percent were males, 66.3% had attended at least primary to tertiary education, in which most of them operates farm size of 6-10 hectares. Production and on-farm constraints affecting rice development were water management and flood. Major economic constraints faced by rice farmers were lack of viable financial agencies to support production, poor capital base and non-availability of loan. Regression analysis showed that the yield of rice was negatively related to land acquisition constraints (b=-0.34, p<0.05) and Technological constraints (b= -0.43, p < 0.01). This study concluded that problems faced by farmers were interwoven in which existence of one relates with the other. Addressing these problems will lead to increase in the rate of adoption of improved rice production technology and ultimately rice productivity in Nigeria.

Cassava Cake (Kpokpo-Garri) in Isoko North Local Government Area of Delta State, Nigeria.

OKPEKE, MERCY YEMI

Department of Agric. Extension and Management, School of Agric.

Delta State Polytechnic, Ozoro. Delta State, Nigeria.

E-mail: mercyokpeke@gmail.com; okpekemercy@yahoo.com   

ABSTRACT

The need to bridge the wide gap between inadequate food supply and increasing population rate in developing countries calls for addition of values to agricultural products by way of processing to avert huge amount of wastes in seasonal production. This had prompted this study on the value chain addition of cassava processing into edible starch and local cassava cake in Isoko north local government area of Delta state, Nigeria. Cross sectional data were collected using purposive and simple random sampling techniques with the aid of well-structured questionnaire for the 2012 processing season. Purposive sampling technique was used to select six towns from the study area based on their involvements in cassava processing activities. Thereafter ten (10) respondents were randomly selected from each of the towns making a total sample size of sixty (60) respondents. Data were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics such as mean, frequencies percentages and inferential statistics including gross margin and regression analysis. The results showed that all the respondents were females, the highest proportion (38%) of the respondents were of the age group of 50 years and above and 90% were illiterates, 75% of the respondents were widowed and 58% had household size within the range of 5>8 persons, 66% of them were into cassava processing on part-time basis, while 33% had 11 > 15 years of processing experience and about 90% used family labour. The estimated annual total revenue was N450,000,  total variable costs was N310,000 and the  gross margin was N140,000 per annum per respondent which represented 45.16% of the total variable cost of production. The implication was that for every one naira invested in the processing of cassava, the farmer gained 45 kobo. The result of the regression analysis revealed that 77% of the variability of the estimated revenue per annum (Y) was being accounted for by the independent variables in the specified model. Inadequate capital, lack of improved technology, inadequate processing and storage facilities, small sized enterprises with low earnings, poor markets characterized by low pricing of products were the major constraints encountered by the processors in the industry. It was therefore recommended that  credit facilities should be channeled to processors through the micro-credit scheme of the Delta State Government, Government policies should be modified to include the provision of training programme to disseminate scientific knowledge to cassava processors, the Research-Extension Farmer linkage should be strengthened to furnish the processors with modern processing techniques, Processors should form co-operative association to establish edible starch and local cassava cake  added value centres for improved and modern weighing and packaging methods, Government and non-governmental organizations/agencies should assist in educating the cassava processing farmers through effective extension system on improved cassava processing technology, to bring about improved production, marketing and profitability; and in doing so, improves livelihood, income, and food security of the people.

Keywords:  Cassava Processing, Value Chain, Gross margin, Regression analysis, Delta State, Nigeria.

Effect of Coal Mining on Agricultural Land of Maiganga Coal Mining Area, Gombe-Nigeria

¹ADAMU  SANI  J., ²SABO AHMED, ²ALIYU  MELE  M. and ³MAHMOUD  AISHA  B.

¹Department of Geography, Gombe State University, Tudun Wada Gombe, Gombe  State, Nigeria.

²Department of Environmental Management Technology, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Bauchi  State, Nigeria.

³Department Of Biological Sciences, Gombe State University, Tudun Wada Gombe, Gombe State, Nigeria.

E-mail: sanidaddy@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study is to identify the effect of coal mining on the agricultural land of maiganga coal mining area, Gombe-Nigeria. 75 questionnaires were administered to the locals, representing 15% of population of maiganga which is 300-500(2006 census). Percentage scores were used to analyze the data collected. The research has confirmed that 80% of the agricultural land at maiganga have been taking over by the coal mining company, 50% of the respondents agrees that there is a decline in their agricultural yield, 75% of the respondents agrees that there are new incidences of diseases, and also the research confirmed that 28% of the populace there are now unemployed because their farmlands have been taken over by the coal mining company. Therefore, the research recommend that government should make it compulsory the conduct of environmental impact assessment before the commencement of any developmental project even agricultural that is 50ha above to avoid a kind of damage that has been done to agricultural land at maiganga coal mine area.

Concurrent Caecal Coccidiosis and Bacteriosis in Slaughter Chickens in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria

¹GULANI, I.A., ²MOHAMMED, A., ¹LAWAL, J.R., ²BIU, A.A., ¹YAKAKA, W. ¹ZANGO, M.K., AND MUSTAPHA, F.B.

¹Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Maiduguri, Nigeria

²Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Maiduguri, Nigeria

E-mail:  biuvet@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT The prevalence of concurrent coccidial and bacterial infections from caecal contents of slaughtered chickens was investigated in this study using saturated salt floatation technique and culture media standard bacteriological procedures. Out of the 450 caecal contents examined 63 (14%) had coccidian oocyts with severity scores of 1+ having 11 (17.5%), 2+ with 21 (33.3%), 3+ with 23 (36.5%) and 4+ with 8 (12.7%). Bacterial isolates were Escherichia coli with a prevalence of 6 (9.5%), Salmonella species mixed with E. coli 14 (22.2%), Enterobacter species mixed with E. coli 7 (11.1%), Klebsiella species mixed with E. coli 6 (9.52%), Staphylococcus aureus mixed with E. coli 8 (12.7%), Corynebacterium species mixed with E. coli 6 (9.5%) and Staphylococcus species mixed with E. coli 7 (11.1%). Antibiogram of the bacterial isolates showed that they were susceptible to ciprofloxacin, gentamycin, ofloxacin and resistant to erythromycin, nitrofurantoin and floxapen