Volume 49 (2016): Issue 1-4 (December 2016)

The present paper aims to demonstrate how the state land ownership affects development of agricultural sector in Uzbekistan, and what are its strengths and weaknesses. It highlights the importance of secure land right regardless of ownership. Land in Uzbekistan is state-owned; the exclusive state ownership of land was first incorporated in the 1992 Constitution. The official rationale was to ensure food security and social stability; another concern was the state-run irrigation system, operation of which would be hampered in the event of land privatization.

Farming entities in Uzbekistan possess different rights to land: from long-life inheritable rights of the dehkans (small-scale household farms) to rights limited by 30 to 50 years and defined by lease contracts of the private farmers. The latter are monitored by the state and are subject to state interventions; in the first place they have to carry the burden of state quotas for cotton and wheat and they are obliged to sell these crops for state-dictated prices. Dehkans provide a major part of livestock production and they can, unlike private farmers, sell all their production at market prices.

Land tenure rights in Uzbekistan lack certain qualities that would make land tenure rights meaningful. The duration of land rights is sufficient, however they do not assure the holders that rights will be recognized and enforced at low costs and do not provide them with mechanisms allowing adjustment under changing conditions.The authors conclude that the insufficient land tenure security, which is further undermined by state interventions, poses a significant barrier impeding development in the agricultural sector. The paper identifies opportunities for change arising from the gradual strengthening of market principles.

This study carried out an analysis of the performance of sweet potato production among small holder farmers in Oyo State of Nigeria. A combination of purposive and a two-stage random sampling technique were used to obtain information from 65 respondents. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, stochastic frontier functions and budgetary technique. Results indicated that majority of the farmers were literate, aged 43.3 years on the average, full time in sweet potato production and with mean farm size of 1.0 hectare. The gross margin and net profit were ₦76, 884.8 and ₦67,292.8, respectively (₦, naira Nigerian Currency, ₦160 = 1$US) indicating that sweet potato production was profitable. The return to scale (RTS) for the production function revealed that farmers operated in the irrational zone (stage I) of the production surface. The stochastic production frontier analysis revealed that the technical efficiencies of farmers was found to be fairly high with a mean of 0.92% which suggest that the average sweet potato output falls 0.08% short of the maximum possible level but the efficiency can be increased by better use of available resources.

This research was undertaken to examine the gender perspective of the technical efficiency of catfish farming in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State. Primary data elicited from a sample size of 70 catfish farmers (38 male and 32 female catfish farmers) were employed in the study. Analysis of the data was done using descriptive statistics and stochastic frontier production function. The maximum likelihood estimates of the stochastic frontier production function revealed that the mean technical efficiency of the male catfish farmers (86%) was higher than that of the female catfish farmers (20%) and this implies that the male and female catfish farmers have the scope of improving their efficiency by 14% and 80%, respectively, through the use of farming practices used by the most efficient male and female catfish farmers. The factors that were significant in influencing the technical efficiency of the female catfish farmers were farming experience and credit while in the case of the male catfish farmers, farming experience significantly influenced their technical efficiency. In the light of the low technical efficiency of the female catfish farmers relative to the male catfish farmers, it was recommended that gender equality infishery training, extension delivery, distribution of resources and access to supportive services should be encouraged in a bid to improve the technical efficiency of the catfish farmers especially that of the female catfish farmers.

Egg production, survival, egg quality and shell characteristics in laying pullets offered honey in drinking water during hot season were determined using hens (28-week-old, n = 120) allotted to either 0 (CONTROL), 10 (10H) or 20 ml honey/L water (20H) for 16 weeks divided into 4 phases of 4 weeks each. Data on hen-day production (EP), egg weight (EW), length (EL), breadth (EB), shape index (ESI), yolk weight (YW), yolk percentage (YP), albumen height (AH), albumen weight (AW), albumen percentage (AP), Haugh unit (HU), shell weight (SW), shell percentage (SP), shell thickness (ST) and survival (SR) were subjected to ANOVA.

EP was significantly (P < 0.001) affected by treatment during phases 1-4. 20H resulted in higher EP than CONTROL in phase 1. In phase 2, EP was similar in CONTROL and 20H, but 10H was lower than the two. Higher EPs were recorded in CONTROL than in honey groups (phases 3, 4). EW was significantly (P < 0.01) affected by honey in week 1 only. Birds on 10H laid heavier eggs than CONTROL. 10H hens laid significantly longer (P < 0.001) eggs with higher (P = 0.008) ESI than control hens while 20H birds had significantly lower values of AH (P < 0.01), AP (P = 0.05) and HU (P = 0.05). Honey had no significant (P > 0.05) effect on EB, YW, YP, AW, SW, SP and SR, but improved (P < 0.05) ST in the first 2 phases. To ensure improvement in egg production and egg shell thickness in laying pullets during hot season, honey at 20 ml/L water can be offered for 4 weeks.

Accurate quantification of irrigation water requirement at different physiological growth stages of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.) life cycle is important to prevent over or under irrigation. Field experiments were therefore initiated to model okra irrigation water requirements at the four physiological growth stages of okra life cycle using CROPWAT model. Derived savannah 1 (DS1), derived savannah 2 (DS2) and humid forest (HF) occupying 493.36 ha, 69.83 ha and 305.25 ha respectively were used. Some selected soil physical properties coupled with weather parameters were used to develop irrigation water requirements for okra crop. In DS1, the estimated crop co-efficient (K_c) values were 0.30, 0.52, 0.84 and 0.70 for the germination, crop growth, flowering and fruiting stages, respectively. Corresponding K_c values in DS2 were 0.30, 0.54, 0.90 and 0.84 and in the HF were 0.30, 0.56, 0.87 and 0.86 respectively. Daily crop evapo-transpiration values ranged from 1.16 to 3.36, 1.17 to 3.64, and 1.2 to 3.38 mm day^-1 for DS1, DS2 and HF respectively with significant (p = 0.05) peak at the flowering stage for the three locations. Sustainable okra cultivation would require maximum daily irrigation water at flowering stage (reproductive phase) to meet the crop physiological needs and evapo-transpiration demand of the atmosphere.

The study examined the relationship between climate variability and livestock production and the lessons that can be drawn for achieving sustainable livestock production in Nigeria. The study employed time series data on annual rainfall and livestock production given by index of the aggregate livestock production over the period of 1970 to 2008. The data were obtained from various publications of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian Meteorological Agency. The data were analyzed through the instrumentality of econometric tools such as Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) test, Vector auto regression (VAR) lag order selection test and Pairwise granger causality. The results of the data analysis revealed the existence of unidirectional causality from climate variability to livestock production in Nigeria and this implies that climate variability has been significant in influencing livestock production over the period under study. Based on the foregoing, it is recommended as a matter of urgency that government should continually sensitize farmers on the challenges of climate change and feasible adaptation measures that they can adhere to in order to avert the detrimental effects of climate change on sustainable livestock production. In other words, implementation of the policy thrust on climate smart agriculture should be pursued vigorously.