harnessing the power of informaion technology by Nigerian Farmers

A downstream retail oil and gas company, involved in the distribution of products through its retail outlets, which are strategically located throughout the Country is a cash business (i.e. most consumers pay immediately for services received) with a very high turnover, hence the key performance indicators which are used to measure the health of the organization are mostly financial and these include: Return on Investment – Considering the fact that the downstream retailing business is a low margin business, in which profit can only be made through the sale of high volumes, shareholders are usually weary of injecting capital into the business. As a result, the rate of return on investment is a good indication of how well sales are being made and subsequently the stability of the health of the business. Asset Optimization – This can be considered to be the same as return on investment. Every asset invested in must be Share prices – As a publicly listed business, shareholders, being the key owners of the company can only determine the state of health, through share prices. Although listed prices may be affected largely due to market sentiment, a good percentage of the number is an actual representation of the worth of the company's shares. Profit After Tax – This gives a clear picture of what the business actually makes in any given year, when all costs have been removed. By all means, this can clearly indicate growth in a company's earnings from year to year. Aside from the above, as a major player in its field, some non-financial key performance indicators are also employed by the organization which include; • Market share/ Sales Volumes: Ensuring that we maintain competitive advantage as a leading oil retailer is one of the key success factors for the management of the organization. This allows the organization see a clear picture of its performance against that of competitors. • Brand recognition • Product quality • Customer satisfaction • HSE compliance: Employee and environmental health and safety is a very important performance indicator in the oil and gas industry, due to the nature of the business. The number of injuries, accidents and the likes are recorded on a daily basis, and is used as a

The study was carried out in Doyogena district, Kembata Tembaro Zone of southern Ethiopia to assess the awareness of farmers on saving and credit cooperatives, and examine the effect of SACCO‟s on household income generation. Multistage sampling procedure was used to select sample households. Structured interview questionnaires were prepared to collect brief information from the sample households by preparing interview schedule, focused group discussion and personal observation. For data analysis descriptive statistics like mean, frequency, percentages are used for quantitative data. In the study area, about 57.35% of respondents are member of saving and credit service in the study area. The age, sex and educational status of household determine the cooperative member of saving and credit services. About 97.43% households are a member of cooperative saving and credit services in the age group of 30-65 years, whereas for age of households between 18-29 years were 2.57 % in study area. About 97.43% of male household are a members saving and credit services.About 56.42% of sampled households are those who able to read and write were a member of saving and credits organization. The access to awareness (63.23%), income generation are >500ETB per months 41.23% respondents those are a member of SACCOs and 24.13% for non-members, un satisfy on adequacy and timeline less of loan and recovery rate(54.54%),weak governance and weak financial management system arethe effects saving and credit service of cooperative organization in study area. Most the users of agricultural input 12(51.61%) are the members of SACCOs. This might be due to use credit from SACCOs. But non-members of cooperative are not using agricultural inputs as members SACCO due to lack credit. Therefore, creation of awareness for members and non-members, and cooperative leaders important for saving and credit services in the study area.

Till today chilli seeds are separated manually and there is no specific machine designed to separate seed from its pulp. The manual process is carried out by hammering chilli fruits with wooden stick, separating the husk using hand separator. This manual method is quite tiresome mainly due to the inhalation of fine particles of chilli fruits by labours. Its pungency results in continuous sneezing and irritation for labours. Hence, it is necessary to eliminate laborious work and time consumption. The automated process of chilli seed extraction will be the better solution for this problem, which helps farmers. This automated method can also be adopted by food industries for large scale extraction of chilli seed, as well.

This paper examines the overview of INEC PVC registration and collection. It also evaluated the relationship between predicted percentage of PDP winning margin and predicted percentage of APC winning margin. The ordinary Least Squares regression and Error Correction Model was used to estimate the variables. It was seen that there exist a positive correlation between numbers of registered voters and numbers of PVC collected across the thirty six states of the Federation including the FCT. Also, predicted percentage of PDP triumphant victory in the presidential/National Assembly and Gubernatorial/State Assembly out weigh the predicted percentage of APC winning margin. In addition, there exists a negative relationship between predicted percentage of PDP winning margin and predicted percentage of APC winning margin. Finally, ECM is negative that is 1.00212 and significant at 95 per cent confidence interval. It is pertinent that Nigerian is about to witness a remarkable election in the history of the country and everyone is admonished to take full delivery of this democratic package of exercising our civil rights. This paper employs mitigate violence and embrace the spirit of brotherhood in these forthcoming elections. This paper assures every Nigerians to vote for Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to experience diverse transformations in our various sectors of the economy.
Keywords: Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. INEC, PDP, APC.

FULL PDF: https://ejar.journals.ekb.eg/article_172842.html Crop production is seriously threatened by drought. Greater availability of nitrogen and phosphorus through intercropping with grain legumes and inoculationwith Phosphate Solubilizing Bactaeria (PSB) can alleviate the negative effect of water stress on some crops. However, row crop-grain legume intercropping and using PSB bacteria is not welcomed or widely accepted by smallholder farmers in arid regions. The problem is that N-fixation by grain legumes cannot completely satisfy nitrogen demand of intercropped non-legume row crop especially in low phosphorus soils of these regions under restricted irrigation. The efficiency of PSB bacteria also is very low in the alkaline soil of this region. It suggests that some amount of nitrogen fertilizer should be used in this intercropping system. Nitrogen consumption also improves the efficiency of PSB bacteria. So, consumption of some mineral nitrogen, and incubation with PSB bacteria...

Comparative effect of rural road transportation on cassava production among rural farmers in Abia State was conducted in Abia State, Nigeria. A sample size of 144 respondents was realized, using multi-stage purposive and randomized methods. Data generated using questionnaire and participant observations were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Result revealed mean ages of 31.9, 32.7 and 33.1 years for Ohafia, Umuahia, and Aba Zones respectively. About 88.3, 70.8, and 87.5 % respectively of the respondents were married and 58.3, 37.5, and 54.2 % respectively were males. A mean farm- size of 1.87, 0.9, and 1.25 hectares respectively were recorded in the three zones. A monthly mean income of ₦30,208.33, ₦23,645.80, and ₦30,687.50 respectively were also recorded in the three Zones. Result equally revealed that trekking (100%) pick – up van (73.6 %), motor cycle (72.2%), cycling (66.7%), and bus (56.6%) respectively were the dominant modes of rural road transportation. Rural road tran...

The gross infrastructure deficit in Nigeria occasioned by the comatose power sector culminating in socioeconomic and political problems as reflected in the high interest rates charged by financial institutions and more perniciously by the rise in crime wave, failure of the real sector, extreme poverty in the street, political agitation, spiraling unemployment rates, militant insurgencies, and many more time bombs has reached a point where we can no longer run away from the problems or snob the solution but to fight back to safety and prosperity by doing the needful. To this, the keywords are sustainable developments in the energy sector in terms of solutions to the acute energy poverty and obnoxious power infrastructure being deficits suffered even in the midst of abundant natural energy resources and friendly metrological conditions. This requires in the short and long term, massive captive power plants and distributed generations (DG) employing mainly renewable energies that are comparatively competitive with respect to the natural locations in question. Such technologies, including wind, solar, micro hydro, biomass, and biodiesel/biogas. Wave, tidal, ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC), and geothermal energy systems may be commercially exploited in the future as our technology in power engineering improves. In fact, with the present level of technological advancement, Nigeria's geographical location isn't suitable for OTEC and geothermal energy exploitation primarily for the fact that Nigeria doesn't fall within the regions in the Pacific Rim of Fire which naturally favors such. Subsequent articles in this series will further elucidate that and related phenomena. The focus on individual, public, and private opportunities in tapping into this alternative (which are mostly renewable) energy business in Nigeria is now realistically narrowed down to wind, solar, micro hydro, biomass (including MSW), and biofuels (Jatropha and the petrohols etc.). By siting the respective energy cum power plants in proximity to their natural sources and loads (consumption) as much as possible, less energy losses will be recorded in transmission and distribution and the overall system reliability and efficiency will be enhanced aside significant reduction in the project capital which is very good for business. Let's take a quick expose on the respective viable options before us. Wind power. The energy from wind is not readily available in every geographical location but however varies from season to season which also implies that the revenue obtainable from renewable energy investments fluctuates with season depending on the prevailing weather and climatic conditions from extremely highs wind speeds (gust) to very low wind speeds (calms). Our researches so far has shown that in the city of Lagos and the southern coastal areas of Nigeria, the solar energies(insolation) are highest between November and April and the wind speed follow almost the same pattern unlike in the Western Worlds where solar insolation is highest in the summer while the wind speeds are highest in the winter. This is another reason why our technological adoptions must be properly adapted to optimize local peculiarities. The solar photovoltaic panels are similarly designed based on Western meteorological conditions. That will be dealt with in subsequent articles. The higher the average prevailing wind speed, the higher the power generated and of cause the revenue vice versa. Typically, wind speeds tend to

The most important upbeat facet for any organization in the present day regardless of motive, is Human Resource. This is conceivably so because, it is the starting place of achieving competitive plus. The management of this valuable resource in higher educational institutions (HEI’s) in Nigeria remains even more tasking and challenging than managing other material resources such as finance, technology and etc. To be able to effectively manage human resource, adequate, appropriate and sound human resource management practices need not to only be institutionalized but also interceded. This paper proffered a model that captures this relationship and ensures effective performance management system in Nigerian HEI’s.

ABSTRAK Tanaman seraiwangi (Cymbopogon nardus) merupakan tanaman penghasil minyak serai (Citronelal oil). Budidaya seraiwangi mulai dari penanaman hingga panen pertama membutuhkan waktu 6 bulan, waktu yang relatif lama bagi petani tanpa pemasukan pendapatan. Jarak tanam antar seraiwangi relatif lebar dapat dimanfaatkan untuk penanaman tanaman ekonomis yang dapat menambah penghasilan. Oleh karena itu diperlukan penentuan jenis tanaman sela, kelayakan ekonomi dan strategi yang paling menguntungkan bagi petani. Penelitian bertujuan mencari tanaman prosepektif baik secara teknis dan ekonomis yang dapat digunakan dalam model Intercropping System (IS). Untuk itu dilakukan identifikasi penentuan jenis tanaman, penanaman demplot dan menguji tingkat efisiensi usaha tani. Penentuan prioritas tanaman sela dilakukan dengan metode perbandingan eksponensial (MPE). Analisis finansial data demplot meliputi analisis struktur biaya, keuntungan dan B/C ratio. Sedangkan untuk menguji konsistensi keunggulan komparatif tanaman sela dilakukan uji Comprarative Performance Index (CPI). Hasil MPE menunjukan bahwa tanaman sela yang dapat digunakan terdiri dari brokoli (Brassica oleracea L), cabe (Capsicum baccatum), tomat (Solanum lycopersicum). Keuntungan terbesar diperoleh dari tanaman tumpangsari seraiwangi-brokoli sebesar Rp 9,8 juta/tahun dengan B/C ratio 2.3. Hasil CPI menunjukan bahwa brokoli memiliki performansi ekonomis terbaik sebagai tanaman sela. Dengan pemanfaatan model ini diharapkan petani dapat mereplika dan memperoleh peningkatan pendapatan. Kata kunci : Seraiwangi, tumpangsari, analisis finansial, borkoli, tomat dan cabe.
ABSTRACT
Citronella grass (Cymbopogon nardus) is the plant which produces the citronellal oil. The cultivation of citronella grass needs a long duration about 6 months for the farmers waiting without inflow's income. Space distance of cultivation among the citronella grass is wide space that can be utilized for planting other commodities which can add farmers' cash resource. Therefore, it is essential for determining what type of intercropping plant, its feasibility and application strategy. This research aims to assess the intercropping system technical economically. Identification of crop's type determining, pilot planting, and financial feasibility assessment were conducted. The financial analysis included cost structure, profitability and B/C ratio. For testing the consistency of commodity, Comparative Performance Index (CPI) was applied. The MPE results showed that Broccoli, chili pepper, and tomato were the prospective intercropping commodities. From financial analysis, the profit of intercropping broccoli-citronella grass was the highest with the profit amount 9.8 million IDR, and the B/C ratio was 2.3. CPI showed that broccoli has the best economic performance utilized for intercropping plant. By assessing this model, it should be able to replicate in other area and finally farmers gain increased income.

This study was carried out analysis of the socioeconomic characteristics and problems militating against onion production in guinea savanna region of Adamawa state, Nigeria. It was observed that with high demand of onion, its production has not been met. The objectives of the study were to; identify the socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents; estimate the costs and returns of onion production and identify the constraints militating against onion farmers in the study area. Structured questionnaires were distributed among 215 respondents sampled. Descriptive statistics and Gross margin analysis was used to estimate the costs and returns to onion production The result revealed that the mean age of the respondents about 41 years shows that were in active age, 7 persons mean of household size and 81.8% attained some level of formal education. Findings further revealed that farm size between 1-2hectares was 80.9%, access of extension service was 80% and farming experience mean were 8.4 years. The total cost per hectare of onion was ₦12860.34 while the average revenue ₦332,223.26 with a gross margin of ₦309,691.10 and a gross margin per hectare of ₦274,062.94, Return/₦ Invested was ₦ 21.31. This therefore established that onion selling is a profitable venture in the study area. The constraints identified were lack of proper information, high cost of farm inputs, and lack of capital, processing /storage facilities, market Policies instability, inadequate extension service, flood, inadequate land acquisition and poor rural infrastructure. Farmers should form supporting unit for the purpose of self-help in terms of input achievement and output.

For decades the international community has recognized Education as a fundamental human right and lack of education is widely linked to poverty. Research reiterated that education is not only an end in itself but also a means to achieving a broad global development agenda. Poverty or Education, which comes first? Some may argue that Nations by being rich are able to afford quality education and become human resource efficient but some may also say that because a Nation gives utmost priority to education it is able to build an effective and efficient human capital and become rich. However, Poverty exists all over the world and can be perceived or defined in different ways depending on the context. Using Nigeria as a case study, this paper examines education as a determining factor in the level of poverty that exists in a person or Nation. The role of education in poverty alleviation cannot be overemphasized. Education and poverty are two very important subjects that are of high significance in determining a country’s growth, development, and global importance. Every nation, therefore, needs to actively pursue initiatives that improve their educational standards and reduce poverty sustainably. Nigeria has been working towards poverty alleviation and investing in education. The county’s GDP has experienced significant growth and has become Africa’s largest economy. Nigeria has abundant resources, a growing consumer class, and a rapidly growing trade and consumption sector to drive growth, however, Nigeria faces expansive challenges. Although productivity is increasing and driving GDP growth, productivity is still relatively low and has not translated into an increase in income and living standards for most of its population. The country’s poverty headcount is now the world’s largest despite being the largest economy in Africa. There’s a need for significant policy reforms and a review of Nigeria’s strategies. It is important to examine the role of quality education in reducing inequality, increasing income and living standards, attaining efficiency and human capital development, and fostering sustainable poverty alleviation and economic growth. This document uses a qualitative and quantitative approach to provide insights into the problem of poverty and the sluggish economic development due to a lack of effective human capital development and human resource efficiency in Nigeria and helps to develop ideas and hypotheses for potential solutions through access to quality education.

In this paper a qualitative evaluation of aeromagnetic data maps has been used to preliminarily support the formation of river anticlines beneath major rivers due to isostatic rebound as a result of deep river incision of surface and sub-surface overlying rocks. The regional gradients of digital high resolution aeromagnetic data were removed by polynomial fitting. This involved fitting a plane surface to the reduction to pole map of the aeromagnetic data by using multi-regression least square analysis of the Oasis Montaj 6.4 program. The regional field values from the plane surface are subtracted from the observed data to obtain the residual anomaly values. Power spectrum plots of aeromagnetic data of the study area produced a basement depth contour map. The basement depths of the south-western part of the study area revealed basement uplift with a depth range of 1.8 to 2.5km which lies beneath the Niger River area, SW of the study area, and depicts a river anticline.

Africa
Transitioning to a Green Economy
From Economic Growth to Sustainable Development
Edited by Dr Chidi Magnus Onuoha, Michelle S Gale de Oliveira,  iriam Kennet
“Beyond Economic Growth, from the Browning to the Greening of Africa.  Building a more secure future, by embracing a more sustainable form of development that will improve lives today and build a better world for our children and grandchildren.”
  Dr Chidi Magnus Onuoha (Nigeria)

Book Overview: 11 parts. No. of pages 266 approx. ISBN: 9781907543364

Contents
Part 1: Transitioning to a Sustainable Economy
Part 2: The Green Economics Institute's Activities and Network
Part 3: Prosperity and Justice
Part 4: A Green Economics Model for Africa's People
Part 5: Greening of the African Economy
Part 6: Learning to Revalue Nature
Part 7: Denying Oil Exploitation and Corruption in the Nile Delta
Part 8: Biodiversity
Part 9: Voices of Africa
Part 10: Sustainable Development
Part 11: Africa's Agricultural Development and Africa's Future

Price £35.00  with this
Special  Offer for April and May 2015 for individual readers ! 
(Usual Price RRP  £65 + P & P )
Africa,Transitioning to a Green Economy
From Economic Growth to Sustainable Development


Biographies of  The Editors:
Dr Chidi Magnus Onouha (Nigeria) is a Development Economist, and Public Policy Analyst. Qualified from University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria and he is a member of the Green Economics Institute, UK. He taught Economics at the Institute for Continuing Education Programme, Imo State University, Nigeria before he left for National Assembly, Abuja Nigeria where he served as a Senior Legislative Aide to the House Committee on Petroleum (Upstream). He also served as a National Expert in the United Nations Industrial Organization (UNIDO) / Institute for African Studies, Oxford University, UK collaborative effort on the Survey of the manufacturing sector of the Nigerian Economy in 2004. He is the author of Fiscal Policy and Poverty Alleviation: The Nigerian Experience. He is presently a Research Fellow, African Institute for Applied Economics, Enugu, Nigeria.

Michelle S. Gale de Oliveira is a Director of the Green Economics Institute, UK. She is a member of the Law School of the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), holding an MA in Human Rights Law with a focus on Islamic Law, Peace-Building, and Developing Countries, specifically South Sudan. Founder of the Gender Progress Consortium, she holds degrees in Political Science and International Relations from Richmond, the American International University in London (RAIUL). She is a Deputy Editor of  the International Journal of Green Economics. Her writing has been featured in Europe's World, one of the foremost European policy magazines. She lectures and speaks on Human Rights, Environmental and Social Justice, Gender Equity, International Development and Green Economics internationally. She also ran a conference on women’s unequal pay and poverty in Reading, UK, lectured at the Oxford University Club on the human rights of land reform, is a regular speaker at international conferences and has appeared in the media in Africa, Europe, and Latin America. In 2010/2011, she was a delegate to the UNFCCC's COP15/16 in Copenhagen and Cancun, and in 2012 led a delegation to the  United Nations' RIO+20, Sustainable Development Conference  where she ran our three side events on green economics.

Miriam Kennet is a specialist in Green Economics and is married to a South African whose family have been involved in food and charity programmes in the Cape Schools and townships. She has been active in creating an African network of Green Economists.
She is the Co-Founder and is CEO of the Green Economics Institute She also founded and edits the first Green Economics academic journal in the world, the International Journal of Green Economics, and she has been credited with creating the academic discipline of Green Economics. Green Economics has been recently described by the Bank of England as one of the most vibrant and healthy areas of economics at the moment.

She is a member of the Environmental Change Institute,  at the University of Oxford.  The BBC has made a special programme about her life and work. She runs regular conferences at Oxford University about Green Economics. Publishing regularly and having over 100 articles, papers and books. She has been featured in the Harvard Economics Review and Wall Street Journal as a leader. Recently she was named one of 100 most powerful unseen global women by the Charity One World.  She is a popular after dinner speaker, and has advised in the Uk Parliament and the Bank of England and in Brussels. She won the Honour Award for Green Business in Luxembourg 2014.

With contributions from 16 other authors from around Africa and globally including:
Dr Stephen Bakhare(Nigeria), Mahalet Mekonnen (Ethiopia), Dr Isavanya Naicker (Cambridge University) Freddie Shamwana (University of Surrey and DRCongo), Dr Emanuel Ojo (South Africa), Adrian Nel (Zimbabwe), Achille Tuete (Cameroun), Elliot Mbiko (South Africa), Dr Susan Canney (University of Oxford and expert on Mali), Sumaya Abedi (Somaliland and UK), Ngefor Silvian (Cameroun),  Igor Makarov, Riad Sultan (Mauritius), Kirstof  and Stacia Nordin ( Malawi)