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2017, World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, International Journal of Biological, Biomolecular, Agricultural, Food and Biotechnological Engineering
Agriculture employs about three-quarter of Nigeria's workforce and yet food sufficiency is a challenge in the country. This is largely due to poor and outdated pre-harvest and post-harvest farming practices. The land fallow system is still been practised as fertiliser production in the country is grossly inadequate and expensive. The few available post-harvest processing facilities are faced with ageing and are inefficient. Also, use of modern processing equipment is limited by farmers' lack of fund, adequate capacity to operate and maintain modern farming equipment. This paper, therefore, examines key barriers to agricultural products processing equipment in the country. These barriers include over-dependence on foreign technologies and expertise; poor and inadequate manufacturing infrastructure; and lack of political will by political leaders; lack of funds; and lack of adequate technical skills. This paper, however, sees the increase in the domestic manufacturing of pre-h...
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2013, World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, International Journal of Social, Behavioral, Educational, Economic, Business and Industrial Engineering
Rice, which is the staple food in Sierra Leone, is consumed on a daily basis. It is the most imperative food crop extensively grown by farmers across all ecologies in the country. Though much attention is now given to rice grain production through the Small Holder Commercialization Programme (SHCP), however, no attention has been given in investigating the limitations faced by rice producers. This paper will contribute to attempts to overcome the development challenges caused by food insecurity. The objective of this paper is thus, to analysis the relationship between rice production and the domestic retail price of rice. The study employed a log linear model in which, the quantity of rice produced is the dependent variable, quantity of rice imported, price of imported rice and price of domestic rice as explanatory variables. Findings showed that, locally produced rice is even more expensive than the imported rice per ton, and almost all the inhabitants in the capital city which hos...
2017
Main purpose of this study was to assess adoption level of farmers for quinoa cultivation after they had been taught through training and visit extension approach. At this time of the 21 century, population structure, climate change, food requirements and eating habits of people are changing rapidly. In this scenario, farmers must play their key role in sustainable crop development and production through adoption of new crops that may also be helpful to overcome the issue of food insecurity as well as reducing poverty in rural areas. Its cultivation in Pakistan is at the early stages and there is a need to raise awareness among farmers to grow quinoa crops. In the middle of the 2015, a training and visit extension approach was used to raise awareness and convince farmers to grow quinoa in the area. During training and visit extension program, 80 farmers were randomly selected for the training of quinoa cultivation. Later on, these farmers trained 60 more farmers living into their ne...
—Climate change has both negative and positive effects in agricultural production. For agriculture to be sustainable in adverse climate change condition, some natural measures are needed. The issue is to produce more food with available natural resources and reduce the contribution of agriculture to climate change. The study reviewed climate change and sustainable agriculture in southeast Nigeria. Data from the study were from secondary sources. Ten scientific papers were consulted and data for the review were collected from three. The objectives of the paper were as follows: to review the effect of climate change on one major arable crop in southeast Nigeria (yam; Dioscorea rotundata); evident of climate change impact and methods for sustainable agricultural production in adverse weather condition. Some climatic parameter as sunshine, relative humidity and rainfall have negative relationship with yam production and significant at 10% probability. Crop production was predicted to decline by 25% per hectare by 2060 while livestock production has increased the incidence of diseases and pathogens as the major effect to agriculture. Methods for sustainable agriculture and damage of natural resources by climate change were highlighted. Agriculture needs to be transformed as climate changes to enable the sector to be sustainable. There should be a policy in place to facilitate the integration of sustainability in Nigeria agriculture.
2013, World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, International Journal of Social, Behavioral, Educational, Economic, Business and Industrial Engineering
This study endeavors to evaluate the effects of farmers’ training program on the adoption of improved farming practices, the output of rice farming, and the income as well as the profit from rice farming by employing an ex-post non-experimental data in Sierra Leone. It was established that participating in farmers’ training program increased the possibility of adoption of the improved farming activities that were implemented in the study area. Through the training program also, the proceeds from rice production was also established to have increased considerably. These results were in line with the assumption that one of the main constraints on the growth in agricultural output particularly rice cultivation in most African states is the lack of efficient extension programs. Keywords—Dissemination of information, improved farming practices, rice ecologies, Sierra Leone.
—Rice is an important staple crop, with current demand higher than the domestic supply in Ghana. This has led to a high and unfavourable import bill. Therefore, recent policies and interventions in the sub-sector aimed at promoting various improved agricultural technologies in order to improve domestic production and reduce importation. In this study, we examined the effect of the adoption of Urea Deep Placement (UDP) technology by rice farmers on the position of the production frontier. This involved 200 farmers selected through a multi stage sampling technique in the Northern region of Ghana. A Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier model was fitted. The result showed that the adoption of UDP technology shifts the output frontier outward and also moves the farmers closer to the frontier. Farmers were also operating under diminishing returns to scale which calls for redress. Other factors that significantly influenced rice production were farm size, labour, seeds and NPK fertilizer. Although there was an opportunity for improvement, the farmers were highly efficient (92%), compared to previous studies; the farmers' efficiency was improved through increased education, household size, experience, access to credit, and without extension service provision. The study recommends the revision of Ghana's agricultural policy to include the UDP technology. Agricultural Extension officers of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) should be trained on the UDP technology to support the IFDC's drive to improve adoption by rice farmers. Rice farmers are also encouraged to expand their farm lands, improve plant population, and also increase the usage of fertilizer to improve yields. Mechanisms through which credit can be made easily accessible and effectively utilised should be identified and promoted.
—The construction industry is a renowned latecomer to the efficiency offered by the adoption of information technology. Whereas, the banking, manufacturing, retailing industries have keyed into the future by using digitization and information technology as a new approach for ensuring competitive gain and efficiency. The construction industry has yet to fully realize similar benefits because the adoption of ICT is still at the infancy stage with a major concentration on the use of software. Thus, this study evaluates the awareness and readiness of construction professionals towards embracing a full digitalization of the construction industry using construction 4.0. The term 'construction 4.0' was coined from the industry 4.0 concept which is regarded as the fourth industrial revolution that originated from Germany. A questionnaire was utilized for sourcing data distributed to practicing construction professionals through a convenience sampling method. Using SPSS v24, the hypotheses posed were tested with the Mann Whitney test. The result revealed that there are no differences between the consulting and contracting organizations on the readiness for adopting construction 4.0 concepts in the construction industry. Using factor analysis, the study discovers that adopting construction 4.0 will improve the performance of the construction industry regarding cost and time savings and also create sustainable buildings. In conclusion, the study determined that construction professionals have a low awareness towards construction 4.0 concepts. The study recommends an increase in awareness of construction 4.0 concepts through seminars, workshops and training, while construction professionals should take hold of the benefits of adopting construction 4.0 concepts. The study contributes to the roadmap for the implementation of construction industry 4.0 concepts in the South African construction industry.
2012, World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, International Journal of Biological, Biomolecular, Agricultural, Food and Biotechnological Engineering
Water is the main component of biological processes . Water management is important to obtain higher prod uctivity. In this study, some of the yield components were investigat ed together with different drought levels. Four chickpea genotypes ( CDC Frontier, CDC Luna, Sawyer and Sierra) were grown in pots wit h 3 different irrigation levels (a dose of 17.5 ml, 35 ml and 70 ml for each pot per day) after three weeks from sowing. In the research , flowering, pod set, pod per plant, fertile pod, double seed/pod, s tem diameter, plant weight, seed per plant, 1000 seed weight, seed diam eter, vegetation length and weekly plant height were measured. Conse quently, significant differences were observed on all the in vestigated characteristics owing to genotypes (except double s eed/pod and stem diameter), water levels (except first pod, seed wei ght and height on 3 week) and genotype x water level interaction (exce pt first pod, double seed/pod, seed weight and height). Keywords—Agronomica...
2007, Agricultural Engineering International: the …
2019
Agricultural mechanization is the harnessing, controlling and organising all inputs of production such as land, capital, labour, as well as research, education, communication/information, and engineering/technology in agricultural practices (Asoegwu and Asoegwu, 2007). It embraces the use of tools, implements, and machines for agricultural land development, crop production, harvesting, and preparation for storage, storage, and on-farm processing. With enormous advantages obtainable from it and its attendant effect on the wellbeing of the people, Nigeria is lagging behind in fully mechanizing her agricultural sector. This is due to much neglect of the sector by the private sector leaving most investment in the hands of a government. Also, lack of clear cut policies on agricultural mechanization and the inability of successive governments to continue with some good policies of former administrations has reduced mechanizing Nigerian agriculture to mere lip service, therefore affecting the output of this sector. Though the present government is building on the gains of former administration's policies on agriculture, more still need to be done to put the nation on the right path of becoming self-sufficient and exporter of agricultural products (either agro-raw materials or processed products). This paper holistically looks at the current status of agricultural mechanization, its prospects, and challenges. Hence, proffering a way forward to them
2014, World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, International Journal of Social, Behavioral, Educational, Economic, Business and Industrial Engineering
Human ability is a major source of constraint to manufacturing industries in Nigeria. This paper therefore, discusses the importance of human influences on manufacturing and consequently to industrialization and National development. In this paper, the development of manufacturing was anchored on two main factors; Infrastructural Capacity Development (ICD) and Human Capacity Development (HCD). However, a wider view was given to the HCD and the various contemporary human capacity issues militating against manufacturing in Nigeria. It went further to discuss various ways of acquiring and upgrading workers’ skills and finally, suggestions were made on how to tackle the onerous human capacity issues in manufacturing. Keywords—Manufacturing, Human, Capacity, Development,
—Improved resource efficiency of production is a key requirement for sustainable growth, worldwide. In this regards, by considering the energy and tourism as the extra inputs to the classical Coub-Douglas production function, this study aims at investigating the efficiency changes in the North African countries. To this end, the study uses panel data for the period 1995-2010 and adopts the Malmquist index based on the data envelopment analysis. Results show that tourism increases technical and scale efficiencies, while it decreases technological and total factor productivity changes. On the other hand, when the production function is augmented by the energy input; technical efficiency change decreases, while the technological change, scale efficiency change and total factor productivity change increase. Thus, in order to satisfy the needs for sustainable growth, North African governments should take some measures for increasing the contribution that the tourism makes to economic growth and some others for efficient use of resources in the energy sector.
2019
Agriculture of Bangladesh is characterized by overwhelmingly small holdings due to higher population density and nearly 80 per cent of its population residing in the rural areas coupled with unabated land fragmentation due to the inheritance laws of the country (Rahman et. al.,2011).According to preliminary estimate of BBS, in FY2017-18, food grains production stood at around 413.25 lakh metric tons (MT). In the same fiscal year, the total internal procurement of food grains was 16.7 lakh MT against the target of 17.3 lakh MT.
2018
Lean Supply Chain Management (LSCM) is an emerging research field in Operations Management (OM). As a strategic model that focuses on reduced cost and waste with fulfilling the needs of customers, LSCM attracts great interest among researchers and practitioners. The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of Lean Supply Chains literature, based on bibliometric analysis through 57 papers published in indexed journals by SCOPUS and/or Web of Science databases. The results indicate that the last three years (2015, 2016, and 2017) were the most productive on LSCM discussion, especially in Supply Chain Management and International Journal of Lean Six Sigma journals. India, USA, and UK are the most productive countries; nevertheless, cross-country studies by collaboration among researchers were detected, by social network analysis, as a research practice, appearing to play a more important role on LSCM studies. Despite existing limitation, such as limited indexed journal database,...
Community empowerment has been proved to be a key element in the solution of the food security problem. As a result of a conceptual analysis, it was found that agricultural production, economic development and governance, are the traditional basis of food security models. Although the literature points to social inclusion as an important factor for food security, no model has considered it as the basis of it. The aim of this research is to identify different dimensions that make an integral model for food security, with emphasis on community empowerment. A diagnosis was made in the study community (Tatoxcac, Zacapoaxtla, Puebla), to know the aspects that impact the level of food insecurity. With a statistical sample integrated by 200 families, the Latin American and Caribbean Food Security Scale (ELCSA) was applied, finding that: in households composed by adults and children, have moderated food insecurity, (ELCSA scale has three levels, low, moderated and high), that result is produced mainly by the economic income capacity and the diversity of the diet on its food. With that being said, a model was developed to promote food security through five dimensions: 1. Regional context of the community; 2. Structure and system of local food; 3. Health and nutrition; 4. Information and technology access; 5. Self-awareness and empowerment. The specific actions on each axis of the model, allowed a systemic approach needed to attend food security in the community, through the empowerment of society. It is concluded that the self-awareness of local communities is an area of extreme importance, which must be taken into account for participatory schemes to improve food security. In the long term, the model requires the integrated participation of different actors, such as government, companies and universities, to solve something such vital as food security.
2017, NAERLS Seminar Series
This study assessed the roles and challenges of key players in promoting agricultural mechanization in Nigeria. Specifically, it describes the characteristics of key players, discussed their roles, and identified their challenges in promoting agricmechanization. The players (Government, development partners, tractor dealers, fabricators, association, tractor hiring service providers, tractor operators, farmers using agri-machines) were selected across Kaduna, Nasarawa, Niger, Lagos, and FCT. Checklist was used in an in-depth interview and focus group discussion to elicit relevant information which was analyzed qualitatively. Key informant interview was conducted using telephone. Various models of tractor-hiring operations were identified. Critical issues to be solved in the promotion of agri-mechanization include accessibility to loan, promotion of scheduled maintenance for machines, and curtailing the excesses of tractor operators through the use of tracking device. Identified major challenges of key payers include… It is recommended that local production of machines and equipments should be stimulated by the Government. More so, group ownership of agri-machines should be encouraged (through creation of awareness, regular training and monitoring by extension agencies) to emulate the TOHFAN example in tractor-hiring management. Models and operational strategies used by TOHAN (especially the tracking device) can be adapted by the public tractorhiring services in order to ensure effective tractor-hiring management in Nigeria.
2021, Agricultural Mechanization in Asia
The large number of farmers (86%) of India comes under small and marginal category. They cannot afford large size equipment like tractors and tractor drawn implements with their meagre income. On the other hand, power tillers are comparatively less costly and are versatile machines by which a large number of farm operations can be performed. It is simple in maintenance and operator can easily repair it on site without much skill. The external attachments are available or can be developed as per the nature of work. The power tiller is suitable in hilly regions particularly on bench terraces, small paddy fields with steep bunds, interculture and spraying operation in the crops with row spacing less than 1 m and in vegetable cultivation in plain region. On mountains, power tillers achieve better work performance and precise use than four-wheel tractors due to light in weight which suits for hilly territory. This study was conducted to generate a representative scenario of the status of the power tiller in India and analyze the research conducted regarding uses of power tiller in cultivation and other activities, suitability for hilly terrain, ergonomics perspectives and constraints in popularization of power tiller. The study reveals the versatility of power tiller to complete the farm operations, post disaster and agro-forest management related activities timely with increased production, productivity and reduced associated drudgery.
2012, World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, International Journal of Biological, Biomolecular, Agricultural, Food and Biotechnological Engineering
This research was conducted to determine responses of chickpeas to drought in different periods (early period, late period, no-irrigation, two times irrigation as control). The trial was made in “Randomized Complete Block Design” with three replications on 2010 and 2011 years in Konya-Turkey. Genotypes were consisted from 7 lines of ICARDA, 2 certified lines and 1 local population. The results showed that; as means of years and genotypes, early period stress showed highest (207.47 kg da) seed yield and it was followed by control (202.33 kg da), late period (144.64 kg da) and normal (106.93 kg da) stress applications. The genotypes were affected too much by drought and, the lowest seed was taken from non-irrigated plots. As the means of years and stress applications, the highest (196.01 kg da) yield was taken from genotype 22255. The reason of yield variation could be derived from different responses of genotypes to drought. Keywords—Chickpea, drought, seed yield.
2019, IAEME
The paper focused on the role of extension service providers in ensuring that mechanization is adopted at the grassroot level among farmers. Information dissemination, farmers' education and awareness creation in motivating the smallholder farmers to utilizing these farm machineries optimally plats a major role in actualizing mechanized farming among these farmers. It further highlights the various challenges hampering the operational use of these farm machines by farmers such as cultural barriers, high cost of machines, low access to credit facilities, high cost of rental, lack of technical expertise among others. It offers practical guide to solving these barriers for optimum use of these farm machines by grassroot farmers through the assistance of extension personnel in creating awareness, and educating the farmers into embracing farm mechanization, sustaining their interest as regards introduction of one technology per time, need specification, technical know-how, action and satisfaction. All of these will help in improving mechanization effectively at the grassroot level with the assistance of extension personnel.
2019
This study focused on the nature of the rice value chain programme in the Central River Region of The Gambia. The instruments used for data collection was Focus Group Discussion and in-depth interview. Simple random sampling was used to select sixteen (16) villages out of which three hundred and eighty-four (384) farmers were used for the study. The data collected were transcribed for all the focus group comments; the comments were rearranged to have answers grouped for each interview protocol. The main ideas were organized into themes to generate an idea or ideas and quotations were identified for each theme. The findings were written in a narrative to describe the themes with quotations. Regarding the quantitative analysis, simple descriptive statistics including frequency and percentages were used for the surveyed data collected from the rice farmers and key informants. However, challenges ranging from inadequate machinery, fertilizer, seeds and market structures were some of the...
2017
Japan’s strategy is based on improving the current resources and productivity by identifying the environmental challenges to progress further in many areas. For example, it will help in understanding the competitive challenges in the industry, emerging innovation, and other progresses. The present study seeks to examine the characteristics of sustainable practices using materials that will last longer and following environmental policies. There has been a major emphasis since 1990s and onwards about recycling and preserving the environment. Furthermore, the present paper analyses and argues how national interest in policy increases resource productivity. It is a universal law, but these actions may be different based on the unique situation of the country. In addition, the present study explains some of the strategies developed by the Environmental Agency of Japan in the last few years. There are a few resources reviewed involving ‘Strategy for an Environmental Nation in the 21st Ce...
Value addition is a vital component of the overall strategy for addressing global market competition, post-harvest losses and food security. The strategy of value addition on agricultural produce provides ample opportunity for wealth creation, revenue generation, employment generation and effective post-harvest management to reduce losses. Value chains reside at the core of high-impact and sustainable initiatives focused on improving productivity, competitiveness, entrepreneurship, and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Agricultural value chain links the steps a product takes from the farmer to the consumer and includes input suppliers, production, processing, marketing and finance. Agricultural development in Nigeria has been pursued under various development plans launched and executed by succeeding governments, yet the sector is currently dominated by peasant farmers using little or no technologies. A national agriculture transformation agenda tagged Agricultural Transformation Action Plan (ATAP) is currently being implemented in the country. The initiative is aimed at an overall development of the agricultural sector with focus on value chain development as a strategy towards agriculture revival. The transformation agenda is aimed at making agriculture work for Nigerians, especially rural farmers such that it becomes not just a development programme but also an income generating commercial activity. However, the transformation agenda cannot be achieved without agricultural mechanization. This paper identifies different agricultural development programmes in Nigeria to include Farm Settlement Centre/Scheme, River Basin Development Authority, Agricultural Development Programmes (ADPs), Tractor and Equipment Hiring Scheme, National Accelerated Food Production Programme, Operation Feed the Nation, etc. The current situation in Nigeria is that the operators of the various components of value chain operate without machines, making their operations to be uncompetitive, leading to weak links in the chain. Tractors, ploughs, planters, fertilizer spreaders, trucks, fork lift, conveyors, threshers, digesters, packaging machines, etc, are some of the agricultural machinery identified as requirements for agricultural transformation and agricultural value chain development in Nigeria. The paper, therefore, recommends the development of a robust machinery building programme in the country for the achievement of agricultural transformation. Strategies to achieve sustainable value chain approach to agricultural transformation through agricultural machinery development were identified to include increased patronage of local fabricators of agricultural machinery, establishment of a sustainable Loan Scheme for stakeholders in the value chain, upgrading of laboratories and workshops in agricultural research institutions, establishment of appropriate standards for machinery, encouragement of the development of processing and marketing clusters and the establishment of machinery hire and leasing services.
2012
Abstract—Groundwater has become the most dependable source of fresh water for agriculture, domestic and industrial uses in the past few decades. This wide use of groundwater if left uncontrolled and unseen will lead to overexploitation causing sea water intrusion in the coastal areas and illegal water marketing. Several Policies and Acts have been enacted to regulate and manage the use of this valuable resource. In spite of this the over extraction of groundwater beyond the recharging capacity of aquifers and depletion in the quality of groundwater is continuing. The current study aims at reviewing the Acts and Policies existing in the State of Tamil Nadu and in the National level regarding groundwater regulation and management. Further an analysis is made on the rights associated with the usage of groundwater resources and the gaps in these policies have been analyzed. Some suggestions are made to reform the existing groundwater policies for better management and regulation of the ...
2021, Book of Abstracts
The avocado industry of Kenya is more focused on export market destinations, implying that higher volumes of this fruit target the global markets for sustainable income generation. Besides other factors, one major threat to avocado postharvest management for maintenance of high-quality fruits in Kenya is anthracnose (caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides). As the export market of avocado fruits reaches saturation, it will be necessary to source alternative markets to absorb the surplus. To access such markets, longer shelf life and transportation durations are critical. In addition, effective treatment of avocado against anthracnose disease at the post-harvest level remains critical towards sustaining their quality attributes. Physiologically mature avocado fruits are highly susceptible to deterioration by anthracnose infection among other factors which include, soft landing, uneven ripening, decay and mechanical damage. Suitable post-harvest treatment of avocado is hence, necessary. Development of avocado postharvest management practices using eco-friendly and non-chemical techniques to prevent anthracnose is a suitable alternative to maintaining their post-harvest quality. The huge postharvest losses incurred in avocado fruits due to infection by anthracnose can be reduced significantly using physical (hot water treatments, electrolyzed oxidizing water treatment, light emitting diode and ultraviolet radiations and postharvest temperature management) and biological approaches (essential plant extracts, biodegradable polymers and plant defense elicitors). Consequently, this review provides a summary of physical and biological techniques for sustainable postharvest management of anthracnose based on the published research findings
2014
This research was made during the 2011 and 2012 growing periods in the trial filed of "Research Station for Management of Soil Water and Desertification" according to “Randomized Blocks Design” with 3 replications. Research material was the following chickpea genotype; CA119, CA128, CA149, CA150, CA222, CA250, CA254 and other 2 commercial varieties named as Gökçe and Yaşa. Some agronomical characteristics such as plant height (cm), number of pod per plant, number of seed per pod, number of seed per plant, 1000 seed weight (g) and seed yield (kg ha ) were determined. Statistically significant variations were found amongst the genotypes for all variables except seeds per pod. Means of the two years showed the range for plant height was from 52.83cm (Gökçe) to 73.00cm (CA150), number of pod per plant was from 14.00 (CA149) to 26.83 (CA261), number of seed per pod was from 1.10 (Gökçe) to 1.19 (CA149 and CA250), number of seed per plant was from 16.28 (CA149) to 31.65 (CA261),...
2020
Mechanization has become the most important aspect of modern agriculture in India due to increasing demand, less yield, scarcity of farm labors, etc. To maintain the sustainability in the agricultural sector, it is essential to spread the awareness of Farm Mechanization among the farmers. The main problem for farmers to adapt mechanized alternatives is lack of knowledge and scarcity of resources such as man, machine and land. The purpose of this study is to investigate the need and challenges of farm mechanization and the current development in the field of mechanization in India. In this study, it is concluded that agriculture in India contributes 14% towards GDP. However, 48% of the population is engaged in agricultural activities for their livelihood. The demand and sales of tractors, power tillers and farm power availability are increasing year by year. This concludes the importance of implementation of mechanized alternatives for farming. Some of the problems in agricultural me...
2018, International Journal of Marine and Environmental Sciences
The geographical location of Bangladesh makes it one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. Climate-induced phenomena mainly affect the south-central region of Bangladesh (Laxmipur district) where they have begun to occur more frequently. The aim of the study was to identify the hydro-climatic factors that lead to weather-related disasters in the coastal areas and analyse the consequences of these factors on coastal livelihoods, with possible adaptation options using participatory rural appraisal (PRA) tools. The present study showed several disasters such as land erosion, depressions and cyclones, coastal flooding, storm surge, and precipitation. The frequency of these disasters is of a noticeable rate. Surveys have also discovered that land erosion is ongoing. Tidal water is being introduced directly into the mainland, and as a result of the salt intrusion, production capacity is declining. The coastal belt is an important area for fishing activities, but due to changed fishing times and a lack of Alternative Income Generating Activities (AIGAs), people have been forced to search for alternative livelihood options by taking both short-term and long-term adaptation options. Therefore, in order to increase awareness and minimize the losses, vulnerable communities must be fully incorporated into disaster response strategies. The government as well as national and international donor organizations should come forward and resolve the present situation of these vulnerable groups since otherwise, they will have to endure endless and miserable suffering due to the effects of climate change ahead in their lives.
In the early sixties, the economy was hinged and developed mainly from agricultural activities. This brought a lot of involvement in the operators of this sector of the economy and growth. Many people participated in farming activities. After crop has been harvested, the next thing to do is to process the produce to the end product for consumption or storage. The processing operations are as good as the production. When the crop is not properly processed, losses take place and the economic return for the farmers is reduced. Inadequate or improper processing or lack of it often results in poor storage as well. It becomes imperative therefore that proper processing operation be done with appropriate technologies. This paper examines the unit operations in food processing, the processing machines and equipment used, processing of common Nigerian crops, how processing, preservation and storage can enhance economic development. Way forward is also suggested.
—The potential of biomass as a renewable energy source leads Serbia to be the top of European countries by the amount of available but unused biomass. Technologies for its use are available and ecologically acceptable. Moreover, they are not expensive high-tech solutions even for the poor investment environment of Serbia, while other options seem to be less achievable. From the other point of view, Serbia has a huge percentage of unused agriculture land. Agricultural production in Serbia languishes: a large share of agricultural land therefore remains untreated, and there is a significant proportion of degraded land. From all the above, biomass intended for energy production is becoming an increasingly important factor in the stabilization of agricultural activities. Orientation towards the growing bioenergy crops versus conventional crop cultivation becomes an interesting option. The aim of this paper is to point out the possibility of growing energy crops in accordance with the conditions and cultural practice in rural areas of Serbia. First of all, the cultivation of energy crops on lower quality land is being discussed, in order to revitalize the rural areas of crops through their inclusion into potential energy sector. Next is the theme of throwing more light on the increase in the area under this competitive agricultural production to correct land use in terms of climate change in Serbia. The goal of this paper is to point out the contribution of the share of biomass in energy production and consumption, and the effect of reducing the negative environmental impact. Keywords—Agro-energy crops, conditions for plantation, revitalization of rural areas, degraded and unused soils.
2017, Indonesian Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship
The manual work carried out by farmers and their families is often both ardous and time consuming and in many countries this is a major constraint to increasing agricultural production. Such day to day drudgery is a major contributory factor in the migration of people, particular the young, from the rural countryside to seek the prospect of a better life in the towns and cities. Farm production can be substantially increased through the use of mechanical technologies which are both labour saving and directly increase yields and production. The necessary inputs are carefully selected tools, machines, and equipment. Such technological interventions are commonly referred to as agricultual mechanization and a judicious choice is crucial for farmers to achieve optimum profitability from their businesses and to attain an acceptable quality of life for themselves and their families. The choice can also have a major impact on the environment; only the use of those which have a positive effe...
2016, World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, International Journal of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering
This research was conducted to determine effects of plant densities on seed yield and some agricultural characteristics of pea varietyJofs in Konya ecological conditions during 2012 vegetation period. The trial was set up according to “Randomized Blocks Design” with three replications. The material “Jofs” pea variety was subjected to 3-row spaces (30, 40 and 50 cm) and 3-row distances (5, 10 and 15 cm). According to the results, difference was shown statistically for the effects of row spaces and row distances on seed yield. The highest seed yield was 2582.1 kg ha-1 on 30 cm of row spaces while 2562.2 kg ha-1 on 15 cm of distances. Consequently, the optimum planting density was determined as 30 x 15 cm for Jofs pea variety growing in Konya. Keywords—Pea, row space, row distance, seed yield.
2019
The task of transforming agricultural productivity has been a great challenge to various tiers of governments in Nigeria. This paper discussed the various programs embarked upon by previous and present governments all with the aim of boosting agricultural production through tractorization which is an arm of mechanization. The paper reviewed critically the previous attempts and came up with some recommendations to address the tractorization needs of the country. However, there is the need to come up with an agricultural mechanization and tractorization policy for Nigeria which should cover mechanical, draught animal, wind energy, solar power and hydro power that generate power for farm use. This policy should drive the agricultural mechanization policy and also the policy should not be politicized for it to achieve the intended purpose-mechanizing Nigerian agriculture. 1.0 INTRODUCTION The task of achieving self-sufficiency in food production in Nigeria is of high priority to government of Nigeria and revitalizing the nation's economy through the transformation of Nigeria's agriculture to its eminent position is not negotiable. Nigeria has a land area of 93.8 million hectares out of which 40 million hectares are arable land (FAOSTAT, 2014). Presently less than half of this land area is being put into productive use due to various factors that include low level of agricultural mechanization. Majority of Nigerian farmers till this day are still utilizing the traditional methods of farming, which is considered inadequate and inappropriate for the ever increasing population. Global trends in developed and developing countries are increasingly casting dark clouds on peasant and subsistence farming. Presently, Nigeria has engaged about 28.2 million hectares which is dominated largely by subsistence farmers that utilized hoe and cutlass for the farming operations. It is therefore, necessary that the federal government policy embraces agricultural mechanization strategy that would not only remove drudgery from agricultural activities but also create the necessary surpluses for export and create jobs that will reduce the current embarrassing levels of unemployment. The inability of the system to arrest youth restiveness and harness same for agricultural mechanization purposes is one of the causes of insurgency in the country and around the world. 2.0 TECHNOLOGICAL REQUIREMENT IN AGRICULTURE Technology is any practical process which utilizes scientific knowledge to obtain the desired result with the primary aim of advancing and enhancing human society and conditions. Technology is used to harness the forces of nature and transform the resources that nature has bestowed on man, into goods and services for better quality of life (Oni, 2009). Traditional technologies are the simplest and most basic technology used in agricultural mechanization in Nigeria and to some extent also applied to commercial agriculture. These technologies range from the traditional cutlasses and hoes, to the developed stick and stone tools used in processing of agricultural produce. These hand tool technologies use man as a power source and are inefficient and ineffective for commercial agriculture. Man is limited to about 0.745 kW continuous power output and is therefore, grossly inefficient as a primary source of power. In most parts of Nigeria where arable farmers are predominantly peasants, traditional technologies are still employed for agricultural production and processing activities.
2020, Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology
Review was done on the development, utilization and adaptation of threshers for effective rice production in Nigeria to meet the needs of the ever-growing population. Locally produced rice, are highly nutritious, but characterized by dirt, stones, and unpolished surfaces, making it unattractive, poorly priced, unavailable due to technology and less accepted by individuals. Critical factors responsible for low quantity and quality of rice production were unveiled. Developed machines are not adapted and utilized by farmers due to lack of linkage between stakeholders. Secondly, some threshers had constraints as reported by their tests results. It is recommended that researchers, institutions and relevant authorities should collaborate in the rice value chain for increased quantity and quality of produce through appropriate funding of research, linkage between researchers and industries, subsidies by governments, provision of funds, grants and soft loans, intensification of extension services and need for enforcement of rice quality standard. Steps in the development of rice threshers were also presented to enhance good research. Development, adaptation and utilization of rice threshers would reduce drudgery, increase production, elevate income and improved standard of living. Conscious domestication of rice production using machineries by stakeholders would discourage import and make it available, affordable and accessible to Nigerian consumers.
International Agricultural Engineering Journal
Impact of adopting products promoted by the Consortium for Improving Agriculture-based livelihoods in Central Africa (CIALCA) on food and nutrition security was tested. Multi-stage sampling was used to select 7 project mandate areas, 5 villages/mandate area (stratified into action, satellite and control sites) and 913 households. Structured questionnaires were administered; analysis of impact based on comparison between stratums, differences in means tested by ANOVA and significance of difference obtained by Tukey's HSD multiple rank tests. Perception of adequate food sufficiency received a higher rating in action and satellite sites compared to control sites reason being improved agricultural technologies. For >60% of households, worsened food security was due to climatic conditions. Although a higher proportion of households in action and satellite was meeting calorie RDIs in DRC and Burundi the difference was insignificant from control sites. 53% of respondents in control ...
2020
The era of the fourth industrial revolution or called Industry 4.0, has become a reality in Indonesia. Indonesia, as an agricultural country, needs to prepare a strategy to adapt to the digital industry. Industrial revolution 4.0 characterized by applied technology, such as advanced robotics, artificial intelligence, internet of things, virtual and augmented reality, additive manufacturing, and distributed manufacturing that can change production patterns and business models in various industrial sectors. The project of the German government, which first promoted the term industry 4.0, was used to improve the computerization of manufacturing. The role of the social sciences of humanities is needed in the framework of technological development so that technology does not eliminate human values. The results showed the production and productivity of corn in Indonesia and the country of Columbia influenced by land area, tractor machinery, and harvesting machinery. But the partial analys...
2014, Oman Chapter of Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review
2016
This article focuses on small-scale food processing enterprises (SSFPEs) as one of the important measures for national development and addressing food security challenges, particularly in Nigeria. The roles, challenges, prospects and measures of SSFPE’s development in Nigeria were discussed. The need for food processing following the extent of food losses and wastages in Nigeria was emphasized. Efforts made at ensuring food security in developing countries, with particular reference to Nigeria were also discussed. The contributions of engineering in enhancing food processing and productivity in Nigeria in the areas of mechanization of food processing unit operations, development of new and existing technologies, design and development of machinery and systems for processing and preservation of different agricultural produce of high target were also discussed. This will facilitate the achievement of the technical roles of food processing. SSFPEs play important roles in the economy of...
This paper attempts to assess innovative approach to agribusiness in Nigeria while taking account of the major issues and attendant opportunities available in the sector with a view to redefining an attractive strategic option that will deliver the anticipated business environment conducive enough to sustain existing local players and enticing to a would-be foreign investor. The effort was made to review past policies, programmes and projects initiatives in the sector prior to Nigeria's independence in 1960 down to date and identifying the notable milestones achieved and those major setbacks that are responsible for its current state. In this respect, various secondary reference materials were the main source of data used for the study. SWOT analysis was used to evaluate and redefine an appropriate strategic direction needed for agribusiness to thrive. Also recognised was the effort of the present Government of Nigeria in achieving its four (4) major priority focus in areas such as food security, import substitution, job creation and economic diversification as clearly stipulated in the newly launched Agriculture Promotion Policy (APP) 2016-2020 document released by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD). The paper revealed four (4) major strategic directions needed in the sector to catalyse its growth, ensure food security, encourage youth and women inclusiveness and handle post-harvest activities.
2013
Considering the increasing need of biofuels in Europe and the legislative requirements of the European Union it is needed to quantify the greenhouse gas emissions of biofuels life cycle. In this article a carbon footprint analysis to quantify these gases emitted during production and use of Romanian rapeseed oil (RO) and biodiesel from rapeseed oil (RME) was conducted. The functional unit was considered the LHV of diesel oil of 42.8 MJ·kg corresponding to 1.15kg. of RO and 1.10 kg. of RME. When the 3 fuels were compared, the results show important benefits when using rapeseed oil or biodiesel instead of diesel. The most impacting stage in terms of GHG emissions is the use of the fuels. In this stage, rapeseed oil registers a total quantity of 3,229 kg CO2eq.·FU and biodiesel register a total quantity of 3,088 kg CO2eq.·FU while mineral diesel registers a total quantity of 3,156 kg CO2eq.·FU emitted in the air. Taking into account that rape plant absorbed during growth stage the same...