Most farmers are experiencing challenges and constraints in accessing agricultural inputs, thus leading to poor and underutilization of agro inputs and consequently low agricultural productivity in ...most part of sub-Saharan Africa. This study assessed the agro-input supply sector in Kogi state. A total of 157 input dealers were randomly selected across the twenty-one local government areas in the state. Data were collected using well-structured questionnaire complemented with interview schedule and were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics. Findings reveal that agro-chemicals, fertilizer and feed were the major inputs supplied by most of the retailers and wholesalers that hardly engage in activities that create awareness about their products. Input prices were the most important preference and consideration factor in the purchase of agro-input by customers and form the basis for competition. Casual, family and child labours that proved to be cheaper, commonly accessible and do not require signing of formal employment contract with workers dominated both the retail and wholesale sectors. Poor government support, poor business condition in addition to poor capital base, high transportation cost, price fluctuations, adulteration were the identified major constraints affecting the agripreneurs. The study recommends capacity development on new marketing strategies, registration of businesses with relevant agencies, provision of credit and financial services; formation of formidable, strong and mutual-trust co-operative societies for input supply actors so as to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of the agricultural inputs supply sector in the state.
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The significance of road mobility in any nation cannot be far-fetched or beyond economic purpose, spatial interaction and social integration. It contributes enormously to ...the livelihood of human existence most especially by facilitating regional complementarity of trade, intervening opportunities, and spatial transferability. The objective of this study was to examine the influence of road transport quality on urban dwellers’ satisfaction in Kogi state, Nigeria.
METHODS: The study adopted a survey research design and systematic sampling method to elucidate primary data through questionnaire from 1215 respondents.
FINDING: It was revealed that the status of the road network has an influence on the transport rate charge per trip at a correlation value of 0.998 and significant value of 0.000; and on the comfort derived from the passengers at correlation value of 0.545 and significant value of 0.000. The provision of transport scheme has an influence on the transport rate charge per trip at the correlation value of 0.905 and significant value of 0.000; and on the quality of road transport comfort at a correlation value of 0.523 and significant value of 0.000. The timely response of road maintenance and sub road infrastructure maintenance has an influence on the transport rate charge per trip at a correlation value of 0.545 and significant value of 0.000; and on the quality of road transport comfort at correlation value of 0.912 and significant value of 0.000. The communication link between the agencies in charge of road transport and the people in the study area influences the compliance of road transport operators with road safety rules and regulations at a correlation value of 0.565 and significant value of 0.000.
CONCLUSION: The condition of the vehicle has a great impact on the level of comfort.
There is a popular assumption that off-cycle subnational elections should be better governed and more peaceful than general elections. This position is premised on the notion that limited ...geographical and demographical scope of such elections offers the national electoral body, security agencies and other key actors in electoral governance the opportunities to concentrate resources and energies in a given jurisdiction for maximum efficiencies. These have encouraged advocacy to unbundle the Electoral Management Body, namely the Independent National Electoral Commission by decentralising electoral governance. However, this assumption has not been subjected to adequate academic scrutiny. This study, therefore, examines comparatively, records of violence in off-cycle subnational elections conducted in Edo, Kogi and Ondo States between 2019 and 2020, and those of Nigeria’s 2019 general elections. The study is descriptive by design, with data largely extracted from Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project and analysed using mixed method.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore flood-prone area residents' preferences of flood-resilient housing technologies (HTs), to understand the factors influencing their choices. ...Flood-resilient HTs can reduce damage and disruption at a household level, particularly in areas where large-scale community schemes are not available or feasible. People’s perception of floods and their preferences of flood-resilient HTs are among many very important factors influencing the adoption of these technologies. Therefore, these perceptions and preferences must be well understood before implementation of these technologies can occur. However, studies on these two important factors are lacking in literature, particularly in the sub-Saharan African context.
Design/methodology/approach
Nigerian residents’ preferences of flood-resilient HTs were explored by focusing on five frequently flooded areas around the Niger and Benue river basins in Kogi State, Nigeria. Thirty-eight chat, video and voice call interviews were conducted with participants across five case study areas: Lokoja, Idah, Bassa, Ajaokuta and Koton Karifi. The interviews, informed through an illustrated brochure, covered residents’ experiences and perceptions of floods. This was done to gain an understanding of the factors influencing the choice of flood-resilient HTs adopted and those preferred.
Findings
This study confirms that residents in these five focus areas show similar characteristics to other floodplain residents as encapsulated in protection motivation theory. The flood-resilient HTs discussed in this study include flood-avoidance, flood-recoverability and flood-resistance strategies, as well as neighbourhood-scale approaches. Flood-resistance and flood-recoverability strategies rated highly in terms of suitability and envisaged efficiency in mitigating flooding in Kogi State. Although the measures were mostly agreed to be potentially effective and successful on a household scale, there were concerns as to flood mitigation on a neighbourhood scale.
Research limitations/implications
Pre-existing flood-resilient HTs were not extensively discussed in the literature review but were included to have a sense of the participants’ mitigation behaviour, as well as their potential to adopt (or not) new measures after adopting previous ones.
Originality/value
The results provide supporting evidence of the factors influencing the choice of and/or intention to adopt flood-resilient HTs, highlighted in literature. Results also contribute to literature by providing further insight into flood-resilient measures already adopted by residents, as well as their preferred HTs from the options presented. The implications of these findings and methodological considerations in this research are fully discussed in this paper.
This article presents some of the results of an investigation that, following the framework of ecological psychology, explores the relationship between the indigenous Kogi people and the Sierra ...Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia. Based on ethnographic research, it investigates the particular relationship with the Sierra in bodily and affective terms, under the notion of affordances, problematized by the ethnographic information collected in two communities in relation to this link. To this end, we used the ethnographic method guided by the affective component proposed by Favret-Saada. The study was based on fieldwork with participants belonging to two Kogi communities in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, from 2016 to 2020. The article highlights the relevance of the concept of affordances to think about the relationships that the Kogi have with the Mother, which includes its strong affective component. By recognizing that these relationships exceed the understandings proposed in ecological psychology, it opens the possibility of altering the concepts with which we reach the field. In this sense, the Mother, a living entity connected to the indigenous people, complicates the notion of environment in ecological psychology. The article thus offers a reflection on the possibility of allowing oneself to be affected analytically and corporeally, as a way of broadening the research horizons of ecological psychology, while presenting an alternative to culturalist approaches to the study of the relationship that indigenous peoples maintain with their territories.
Summary The purpose of this study was to develop prototype farm plans according to the multi-objective production goals of small-scale arable crop producers in Kogi State, Nigeria. A multi-stage ...sampling technique was used to select a total of 137 farm households in different local government areas (LGAs). A structured questionnaire complemented with interview schedule was used to collect primary data from the respondents. Descriptive statistics and linear goal programming were used for data analysis. The results obtained indicate that the optimal plan of generating an income of ₦242,076.20 requires 0.368 ha of melons, 0.044 ha of yam/maize mixture and 0.259 ha of sorghum/groundnuts. The optimal net profit was 44.05% higher than that achieved by implementing the existing plan. To meet family food requirements, the solution plan prescribed devoting 0.048 ha to cassava, 0.211 ha to sorghum, 0.368 ha to melons, 0.074ha to Bambara nuts, and 1.065 ha to sorghum/groundnuts to generate an income of ₦158,475.00. To minimize paid labour and generate an income of ₦168,325.50, the plan prescribed devoting 0.195 ha to rice, 0.502 ha to melons and 0.246 ha to Bambara nuts. Out of the three basic farm household objectives considered, meeting family food requirements and limiting labour expenditure were overachieved, whereas the objective of maximizing farm income was underachieved. A great deal of the existing staple food plan was found consistent with the prescribed optimal plan, except in the case of existing cassava and Bambara nut production which was falling short of the optimal production prescribed. The maize/groundnut production had the lowest shadow prices. However, land, labour, capital, agrochemicals, fertilizers and seeds constituted the limiting resources in the plan. It was found that these resources were not optimally allocated in the existing plan for arable crop activities. Therefore, the respondents were advised to utilize their resources as prescribed in the optimum plan, supported by farm advisory services in selecting good crop mixtures.
Annually, Kogi State in Nigeria experiences significant flooding events, leading to serious fatalities, the destruction of livelihoods, and damage to vital infrastructure. This study presents a ...multi-faceted approach and methodology to generate a state-wide flood risk map by analyzing both flood vulnerability and flood hazard factors. Seven flood hazard factors (drainage length, distance to river, elevation, slope, rainfall, distance from confluence/dam area, and geomorphology) and vulnerability factors (population density, female population, land cover, road length, distance from hospitals, literacy rate, and employment rate) were ranked and weighted based on their contributions to flooding within the state using the Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP). From these, the Flood Hazard Index (FHI), Flood Vulnerability Index (FVI), and Flood Risk Index (FRI) were derived. Results showed that Kabba, Idah, Olamabor, Kotonkar, and the southern part of Ajaokuta LGAs exhibit high flood vulnerability due to dense populations, remoteness from roads and critical infrastructure, and considerable distances from healthcare facilities. Likewise, LGAs exhibiting a very high FHI occur along the geographic zones bounded by the confluence of the Niger and Benue rivers, specifically along the Lokoja area, and the Kotonkar, Kogi, Bassa, and Ibaji LGAs. Five flood risk classes—very low, low, moderate, high, and very high FRI classes—occupy 26.82, 31.12, 22.07, 15.26, and 4.71% of the area, respectively. Out of 295 villages, 65 villages are spread across the high flood risk zone. The safest LGAs include Ankpa, Omala, Dekina, Ijumu, Kabba, and Mopa-Muro LGAs.
This study was undertaken to investigate the status of Soil-transmitted Helminths (STHs) in rural schools of Kogi East, Nigeria. The study was cross-sectional using stratified random cluster sampling ...procedure. Stool specimens were collected in a sterile specimen bottle from school pupils in five (5) randomly selected schools in each of the nine Local Government Areas (LGAs) (45 schools) of Kogi East to enable complete epidemiological survey, all schools selected were located within the rural areas of the LGAs. Collected samples were preserved in 10% formalin and examined for parasites using formal ether sedimentation technique. Structured questionnaires were administered to obtain information on the risk factors associated with STHs. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and Chi-square test was used to test the relationship in prevalence of STHs according to categories of infections. The overall prevalence of STHs in Kogi East was 17.1% with
Ascaris lumbricoides
, hookworms and
Strongyloides stercoralis
having prevalence of 4.3%, 12.7% and 1.1% respectively. Hookworms’ infection was the most widespread in Kogi East. Omala LGA (29.6%) had the highest prevalence of STHs. No significant difference (
p
> 0.05) in prevalence between male (18.2%) and female (16.0%) pupils, and between the age groups of 5–8 years (16.6%) and 9–12 years (17.8%). STHs is endemic among rural pupils of Kogi East as observed in the prevalence of infection as well as the prevailing risk factors, preventive chemotherapy is warranted. Therefore, school-based deworming alongside health education programme should be extended to rural schools.
This study examines the changing role of women in the agricultural economy of Okunland occasioned by the transition from the pre-colonial arrangement to colonisation. Opinions are divided in the ...literature on the gendered processes in relation to colonial agricultural economy in most of Africa. The first thinking is that women lost power and economic autonomy as a result of discriminatory colonial policies. The second thinking suggests that the residual role of women in the agricultural economy was a product of choice rather than a deliberate colonial policy. The third maintains that women were economically active and productive but were unable to claim the proceeds of their labour. In Okunland, while women were prominently involved in the agricultural economy in the pre-colonial period, they appeared to be relegated to playing a residual role during the colonial period, leading to disempowerment. The data for this study were generated using the primary and secondary sources. While the primary sources involved the use of interviews, the secondary method involved the use of archival and documented materials. The data were analysed using thematic descriptive analysis. The study finds that the residual role played by women in the agricultural economy of colonial Okunland could be attributed to British colonial economic policies which generally favoured the men.
A plenitude of research exist on women participation in politics. However, there is dearth of research effort on the factors affecting political participation of women in Kogi politics. As a result, ...the study examines the factors influencing women's engagement in participatory politics in Lokoja, Kogi State, Nigeria. The sample comprised 243 females who were selected through a multi-stage cluster technique. The analysis for the study was done using simple percentages and mean (M) and standard deviation (SD) were used to describe demographic and other salient information in the data. The Multiple Standard Regression was performed to determine the impact of women's demographics on their level of political participation. Results showed among others that respondents were not aware of current political trends in Nigeria and the world. Because women were being short changed in politics as there was no enabling environment for them to thrive politically, they were perceived as politically disadvantaged more than their fellow men. Findings also revealed that certain institutional (e.g. lack of effective government action), socio-cultural (patriarchal and sexism), attitudinal (lack of support by women to women who are willing to participate) and socio-economic (e.g. age, lower levels of female employment and education) factors influenced women's political participation in the study. Result of the regression analysis revealed that socio-economic factors such as age (p < .01), educational level (p < .01), marital status (p < .01), religion (p < .01), traditional beliefs (p < .01) and occupation (p < .05) significantly predicted the low political participation level by the women in the study.
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