Climate change is negatively affecting agricultural production in the Sahel region. Climate-Smart... more Climate change is negatively affecting agricultural production in the Sahel region. Climate-Smart Agricultural Technologies (CSATs) are disseminated to reduce these negative effects, and particularly those on resource-poor farm households. This article investigates the distributional impacts of the adoption of CSAT on-farm households’ welfare using a dataset that covers four regions, 32 communes, 320 villages, and 2240 households in Mali. Using an instrumental variable quantile treatment effects model, the paper addresses the potential endogeneity arising from the selection bias and the heterogeneity of the effect across the quantiles of the outcome variables’ distribution. The results show that the adoption of CSAT is positively associated with improved households’ welfare. The farmers’ decision to adopt any CSAT is influenced by access to credit, contact with extension agents, participation in training, access to information through the television, and being a member of any organi...
Indoor air pollution in buildings puts people at risk of developing respiratoryand cardiovascular... more Indoor air pollution in buildings puts people at risk of developing respiratoryand cardiovascular diseases. Particulate matter (PM) exposure is known tocause these health issues. Preliminary efforts were made in this study to assessthe quantity and quality of PM1.0, PM2.5, and PM10 present in an abattoir and aresidential building in northern Nigeria. Canree A1 low-cost sensor was used tomonitor the locations, 8 hourly for two weeks. The results showed that the average values (μg/m3 ) of PM1.0, PM2.5, and PM10 in an abattoir were 62.74, 161.94, and 199.08, respectively, and in a residential building were 28.70, 83.31, and 103.71. The average Air Quality Index (AQI) of the abattoir office was VeryUnhealthy, while the living room of the residential building was unhealthy. ThePM2.5, and PM10 levels were higher than the international (WHO) and national(FMEnv) standard limits, indicating a potential danger to building occupants.It is expected that the indoor environment of the locations w...
Poverty persists in many developing countries, including Nigeria, owing to inadequate infrastruct... more Poverty persists in many developing countries, including Nigeria, owing to inadequate infrastructure, unemployment, or poor working conditions, among other factors. Youth poverty and vulnerability to poverty have been identified to prevalent among the young population. Using an endogenous switching probit regression approach, in this study, we evaluated the impacts of youth participation in agribusiness programs (YIAPs) on poverty and vulnerability to poverty in Nigeria. Our findings revealed that some demographic and institutional factors significantly influence poverty and vulnerability to poverty among youth. The impact estimates indicate that participation in an agribusiness program has a significant positive effect on poverty reduction among youth. Moreover, there would have been about a 28% reduction in exposure to future poverty for non-participants had they participated in a YIAP. Our results suggest that intervention programs, such as YIAPs, that focus on skill acquisition ...
The youth unemployment situation is an essential component of the current agricultural policy age... more The youth unemployment situation is an essential component of the current agricultural policy agenda of the Federal Government of Nigeria. Deep-rooted debates on finding a lasting solution to this problem using agriculture have been targeted as one of the panaceas. Using data from 207 systematically selected rice-producing households, this study employed the Propensity Score Matching method (PSM) and the Inverse Probability Weighted Regression Adjustment method (IPWRA) to examine the effect of intensive youth participation in agriculture on productivity and household revenue in Nigeria. We found that the key factors influencing the decisions of youth to participate in agriculture intensively include the number of years of farming experience, access to credit, membership in social groups, income, and land access. The PSM results indicate that rice productivity could increase by 1088.78 kg/ha if youth decide to intensively participate in agriculture. The IPWRA results show a positive ...
The increasing rate of youth unemployment in Africa, particularly in Nigeria, remains among the c... more The increasing rate of youth unemployment in Africa, particularly in Nigeria, remains among the challenges to social and economic stability. Accordingly, the Nigerian government implemented several interventions, including the Youth-in-Agribusiness (YIA) program to reduce youth unemployment. However, the effect of these programs on gainful employment creation is yet to be documented. Therefore, this study examined the impact of the YIA program on creating gainful employment among the youth. Multistage random sampling was used to obtain cross-sectional data from 668 youth in Southwestern Nigeria. Propensity score matching and endogenous switching probit techniques were used for the estimations. Results indicated that variables such as educational attainment, access to training, non-agricultural activity, membership in a youth organization, access to credit, productive resources, and youth location were significant and positively influenced youth decision to participate in the YIA pro...
Abstract. Ugbaa M, Omoigui L, Bello L. 2020. Phenotypic screening of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) g... more Abstract. Ugbaa M, Omoigui L, Bello L. 2020. Phenotypic screening of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) genotypes in response to parasitic weed Alectra vogelii. Asian J Agric 4: 14-17. Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp) production is constrained by a number of abiotic and biotic factors. Among the biotic constraints, the parasitic flowering plant Alectra vogelii Benth.is one of the most formidable limitations in the dry savannas of West and Central Africa, a region that accounts for over 64% of world production. Alectra causes yield losses estimated between 41 and 100% in susceptible cultivars. Several control measures have been suggested for the control of the parasite. These include cultural practices, application of ethylene chemicals, and host plant resistance. Among these control measures, the use of resistance cultivars appears to be the most attractive option to the resource poor farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. This study was designed to revalidate and determine the reaction status ...
Substance abuse is a significant public concern for global society. Using the National Income Dyn... more Substance abuse is a significant public concern for global society. Using the National Income Dynamic Study wave four data, this study applies the multinomial endogenous switching regression technique to examine the impact of substance use (alcohol use and tobacco use) on labour market outcomes in South Africa. This method controls for any potential selection bias and endogeneity problems. The results from the regression (first stage of the multinomial endogenous switching regression) reveal that individuals’ decisions to consume alcohol only, tobacco only, and a combination of both are driven by socioeconomic, health, and demographic factors. The estimated average treatment effect (second stage of the multinomial endogenous switching regression) shows that substance use reduces individuals’ earnings in almost all cases and increases working hours. The findings suggest that efforts to control the use of alcohol and tobacco in South Africa should focus more on sensitization programme...
Castor bean is widely cultivated around the world because of the commercial importance for its oi... more Castor bean is widely cultivated around the world because of the commercial importance for its oil. The fruits of castor are set on a panicle-like structure called raceme. The racemes are classified into the primary, secondary and tertiary racemes as a result of their different time of initiation on the mother plant. The possibility that the raceme initiation points could affect seed viability attributes through its association with time to seed set exists. This study, therefore, determines variation in seed viability and vigor of seeds originating from different racemes positions on the same mother plant. The germination study was conducted in a screen house with 7 castor accession using sand as a substratum. The racemes were found to be statistically similar in terms of germination ability. However, secondary racemes had the highest mean (64.4%) for the germination percentage and germination rate index (GI) of 5.9. Accession NKAN had the higher germination ability with mean germin...
Abstract Although women are actively involved in a wide array of agricultural production activiti... more Abstract Although women are actively involved in a wide array of agricultural production activities, they have limited access to farm productive resources and their influence in decision-making is also restricted compared with men. These limitations have the potential to affect women performance in agriculture. This study assesses gender-based farm performance (proxy by productivity) differences and identified sources of performance differentials amongst rice farmers in rural Nigeria using the Blinder-Oaxaca gender decomposition framework. The results revealed a disparity between men and women with a gender performance gap of about 11% in favour of men, of which 77.66% of the gap remained unexplained after accounting for gender differences in household characteristics, access to supply-driven factors, and farm productive resources. A more detailed analysis suggests that factors such as the use of improved rice varieties, membership of farmer-based organisations, extension services, and quantity of seeds sown could contribute to the gender performance gap. As a result, the study concludes that focusing on these productivity gaps and the factors that contribute to them is critical for developing policy interventions aimed at empowering women.
This study was aimed at determining grain yield selection criteria using principal component anal... more This study was aimed at determining grain yield selection criteria using principal component analysis, correlation and path coefficient analysis. The experiment was carried out using seventeen medium duration soybean genotypes laid in a randomized complete block designin 2009 at at Teaching, Research and Experimental Farm of University of Agriculture Makurdi and at AkperenOrshi College of Agriculture Yandev, Benue State Nigeria. Results revealed that their PCA implicated pods per plant, seed yield, plant height and first pod height for accounting for the most variability in the soybean genotypes. Correlation coefficient of seed yield was significant and positive with pods per plant. Increase in this trait will ultimately increase the seed yield. Correlation coefficient also revealed a strong negative association of seed yield with first pod height. Path coefficient analysis revealed that first pod height had the largest negative direct effect on seed yield. It seems that the lower t...
Journal of Statistical Computation and Simulation, 1993
This paper examines the performance of rank transform approach (RT) in eight commonly used error ... more This paper examines the performance of rank transform approach (RT) in eight commonly used error rate methods (three parametric and five non-parametric) in two-group discriminant analysis using homoscedastic normal and non-normal populations. Question arising in some non-parametric error rate estimators is addressed. Monte Carlo results indicate that the efficiency of RLDF (a linear function of ranked training samples that corresponds
Journal of Statistical Computation and Simulation, 1993
The problem of incomplete training data crops up fairly frequently in discriminant analysis. A ti... more The problem of incomplete training data crops up fairly frequently in discriminant analysis. A time-honoured solution is to impute (fill in) data to the missing values. Working under the assumption that missing values are missing at random (MAR), this paper examines the effects of imputed values on the classification performance of linear (LDF)-, quadratic (QDF)-, and kernel (KDF)-discriminant functions. Five
Climate change is negatively affecting agricultural production in the Sahel region. Climate-Smart... more Climate change is negatively affecting agricultural production in the Sahel region. Climate-Smart Agricultural Technologies (CSATs) are disseminated to reduce these negative effects, and particularly those on resource-poor farm households. This article investigates the distributional impacts of the adoption of CSAT on-farm households’ welfare using a dataset that covers four regions, 32 communes, 320 villages, and 2240 households in Mali. Using an instrumental variable quantile treatment effects model, the paper addresses the potential endogeneity arising from the selection bias and the heterogeneity of the effect across the quantiles of the outcome variables’ distribution. The results show that the adoption of CSAT is positively associated with improved households’ welfare. The farmers’ decision to adopt any CSAT is influenced by access to credit, contact with extension agents, participation in training, access to information through the television, and being a member of any organi...
Indoor air pollution in buildings puts people at risk of developing respiratoryand cardiovascular... more Indoor air pollution in buildings puts people at risk of developing respiratoryand cardiovascular diseases. Particulate matter (PM) exposure is known tocause these health issues. Preliminary efforts were made in this study to assessthe quantity and quality of PM1.0, PM2.5, and PM10 present in an abattoir and aresidential building in northern Nigeria. Canree A1 low-cost sensor was used tomonitor the locations, 8 hourly for two weeks. The results showed that the average values (μg/m3 ) of PM1.0, PM2.5, and PM10 in an abattoir were 62.74, 161.94, and 199.08, respectively, and in a residential building were 28.70, 83.31, and 103.71. The average Air Quality Index (AQI) of the abattoir office was VeryUnhealthy, while the living room of the residential building was unhealthy. ThePM2.5, and PM10 levels were higher than the international (WHO) and national(FMEnv) standard limits, indicating a potential danger to building occupants.It is expected that the indoor environment of the locations w...
Poverty persists in many developing countries, including Nigeria, owing to inadequate infrastruct... more Poverty persists in many developing countries, including Nigeria, owing to inadequate infrastructure, unemployment, or poor working conditions, among other factors. Youth poverty and vulnerability to poverty have been identified to prevalent among the young population. Using an endogenous switching probit regression approach, in this study, we evaluated the impacts of youth participation in agribusiness programs (YIAPs) on poverty and vulnerability to poverty in Nigeria. Our findings revealed that some demographic and institutional factors significantly influence poverty and vulnerability to poverty among youth. The impact estimates indicate that participation in an agribusiness program has a significant positive effect on poverty reduction among youth. Moreover, there would have been about a 28% reduction in exposure to future poverty for non-participants had they participated in a YIAP. Our results suggest that intervention programs, such as YIAPs, that focus on skill acquisition ...
The youth unemployment situation is an essential component of the current agricultural policy age... more The youth unemployment situation is an essential component of the current agricultural policy agenda of the Federal Government of Nigeria. Deep-rooted debates on finding a lasting solution to this problem using agriculture have been targeted as one of the panaceas. Using data from 207 systematically selected rice-producing households, this study employed the Propensity Score Matching method (PSM) and the Inverse Probability Weighted Regression Adjustment method (IPWRA) to examine the effect of intensive youth participation in agriculture on productivity and household revenue in Nigeria. We found that the key factors influencing the decisions of youth to participate in agriculture intensively include the number of years of farming experience, access to credit, membership in social groups, income, and land access. The PSM results indicate that rice productivity could increase by 1088.78 kg/ha if youth decide to intensively participate in agriculture. The IPWRA results show a positive ...
The increasing rate of youth unemployment in Africa, particularly in Nigeria, remains among the c... more The increasing rate of youth unemployment in Africa, particularly in Nigeria, remains among the challenges to social and economic stability. Accordingly, the Nigerian government implemented several interventions, including the Youth-in-Agribusiness (YIA) program to reduce youth unemployment. However, the effect of these programs on gainful employment creation is yet to be documented. Therefore, this study examined the impact of the YIA program on creating gainful employment among the youth. Multistage random sampling was used to obtain cross-sectional data from 668 youth in Southwestern Nigeria. Propensity score matching and endogenous switching probit techniques were used for the estimations. Results indicated that variables such as educational attainment, access to training, non-agricultural activity, membership in a youth organization, access to credit, productive resources, and youth location were significant and positively influenced youth decision to participate in the YIA pro...
Abstract. Ugbaa M, Omoigui L, Bello L. 2020. Phenotypic screening of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) g... more Abstract. Ugbaa M, Omoigui L, Bello L. 2020. Phenotypic screening of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) genotypes in response to parasitic weed Alectra vogelii. Asian J Agric 4: 14-17. Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp) production is constrained by a number of abiotic and biotic factors. Among the biotic constraints, the parasitic flowering plant Alectra vogelii Benth.is one of the most formidable limitations in the dry savannas of West and Central Africa, a region that accounts for over 64% of world production. Alectra causes yield losses estimated between 41 and 100% in susceptible cultivars. Several control measures have been suggested for the control of the parasite. These include cultural practices, application of ethylene chemicals, and host plant resistance. Among these control measures, the use of resistance cultivars appears to be the most attractive option to the resource poor farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. This study was designed to revalidate and determine the reaction status ...
Substance abuse is a significant public concern for global society. Using the National Income Dyn... more Substance abuse is a significant public concern for global society. Using the National Income Dynamic Study wave four data, this study applies the multinomial endogenous switching regression technique to examine the impact of substance use (alcohol use and tobacco use) on labour market outcomes in South Africa. This method controls for any potential selection bias and endogeneity problems. The results from the regression (first stage of the multinomial endogenous switching regression) reveal that individuals’ decisions to consume alcohol only, tobacco only, and a combination of both are driven by socioeconomic, health, and demographic factors. The estimated average treatment effect (second stage of the multinomial endogenous switching regression) shows that substance use reduces individuals’ earnings in almost all cases and increases working hours. The findings suggest that efforts to control the use of alcohol and tobacco in South Africa should focus more on sensitization programme...
Castor bean is widely cultivated around the world because of the commercial importance for its oi... more Castor bean is widely cultivated around the world because of the commercial importance for its oil. The fruits of castor are set on a panicle-like structure called raceme. The racemes are classified into the primary, secondary and tertiary racemes as a result of their different time of initiation on the mother plant. The possibility that the raceme initiation points could affect seed viability attributes through its association with time to seed set exists. This study, therefore, determines variation in seed viability and vigor of seeds originating from different racemes positions on the same mother plant. The germination study was conducted in a screen house with 7 castor accession using sand as a substratum. The racemes were found to be statistically similar in terms of germination ability. However, secondary racemes had the highest mean (64.4%) for the germination percentage and germination rate index (GI) of 5.9. Accession NKAN had the higher germination ability with mean germin...
Abstract Although women are actively involved in a wide array of agricultural production activiti... more Abstract Although women are actively involved in a wide array of agricultural production activities, they have limited access to farm productive resources and their influence in decision-making is also restricted compared with men. These limitations have the potential to affect women performance in agriculture. This study assesses gender-based farm performance (proxy by productivity) differences and identified sources of performance differentials amongst rice farmers in rural Nigeria using the Blinder-Oaxaca gender decomposition framework. The results revealed a disparity between men and women with a gender performance gap of about 11% in favour of men, of which 77.66% of the gap remained unexplained after accounting for gender differences in household characteristics, access to supply-driven factors, and farm productive resources. A more detailed analysis suggests that factors such as the use of improved rice varieties, membership of farmer-based organisations, extension services, and quantity of seeds sown could contribute to the gender performance gap. As a result, the study concludes that focusing on these productivity gaps and the factors that contribute to them is critical for developing policy interventions aimed at empowering women.
This study was aimed at determining grain yield selection criteria using principal component anal... more This study was aimed at determining grain yield selection criteria using principal component analysis, correlation and path coefficient analysis. The experiment was carried out using seventeen medium duration soybean genotypes laid in a randomized complete block designin 2009 at at Teaching, Research and Experimental Farm of University of Agriculture Makurdi and at AkperenOrshi College of Agriculture Yandev, Benue State Nigeria. Results revealed that their PCA implicated pods per plant, seed yield, plant height and first pod height for accounting for the most variability in the soybean genotypes. Correlation coefficient of seed yield was significant and positive with pods per plant. Increase in this trait will ultimately increase the seed yield. Correlation coefficient also revealed a strong negative association of seed yield with first pod height. Path coefficient analysis revealed that first pod height had the largest negative direct effect on seed yield. It seems that the lower t...
Journal of Statistical Computation and Simulation, 1993
This paper examines the performance of rank transform approach (RT) in eight commonly used error ... more This paper examines the performance of rank transform approach (RT) in eight commonly used error rate methods (three parametric and five non-parametric) in two-group discriminant analysis using homoscedastic normal and non-normal populations. Question arising in some non-parametric error rate estimators is addressed. Monte Carlo results indicate that the efficiency of RLDF (a linear function of ranked training samples that corresponds
Journal of Statistical Computation and Simulation, 1993
The problem of incomplete training data crops up fairly frequently in discriminant analysis. A ti... more The problem of incomplete training data crops up fairly frequently in discriminant analysis. A time-honoured solution is to impute (fill in) data to the missing values. Working under the assumption that missing values are missing at random (MAR), this paper examines the effects of imputed values on the classification performance of linear (LDF)-, quadratic (QDF)-, and kernel (KDF)-discriminant functions. Five
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Papers by Lateef Bello