Effects of Non-Timber Forest Products Consumption on Household Food Security Level in Oyo State, Nigeria (Published)
This paper thus assessed effects of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) in Oyo state on the household’s food security level. Multistage sampling technique was employed, firstly, purposive selection and ogbomoso agricultural zones of Oyo state, secondly, random selection of four (4) LGAs, random selection of 40% of blocks and random selection of a village from each of the selected blocks. Random selection of 3.5% of the women that involved in non-timber forest products in the study and this resulted into selection of 214 respondents for the study. Interview schedule was used to collect primary data from a respondents (women) based on the set objectives of the study.The mean age of the most of the respondents was 47years. The result of the finding also indicates that most of them were married and have a mean years of schooling was 12years which implies that most of them gad secondary school education. it was indicates that the three major religions were being practiced in the study area. The numerous opportunities accrued to the usage of forest products could be further exploited by educating rural women on other environmentally sustainable benefits of the non-timber forest products in their areas. It was also revealed that most households had an average of seven (7) members in their households. Polygamy system of marriage was the most widely adopted system in the study. Farming is the major livelihood activity and most of the respondents engaged in crop production in the study area. The mean farm size of most of the respondents was found to be 11.06 hectares while the mean years of farming experience was 23years. Most of the respondents did not belong to any social organizations. Most of the non-timber forest products were utilized majorly as food, fruits, medicine while some were utilized purposively as wrapping materials, oil, fuel, duck stock and construction/handcraft purposes. Most of the non-timber forest products identified in the study area were most commonly consumed at moderate level. Most of the households were highly satisfied with the utilization of the non-timber forest products in their households. The potentials embedded in the utilization of non-timber forest products were yet to be fully utilized in the study area. Women were found contribute to family nutrition through the utilization of non-timber forest in the study area. Most of the households were moderately food secured. The results of the analysis revealed that age (r=0.124*) and years of schooling (r=0.148*) were significantly related with household food security level. Based on the results of the finding, the following recommendations are necessary; more effort should also be made to create more awareness on the potentials in non-timber forest products utilization to further reduce poverty level in the study area, government and other stakeholders in agricultural development should intensify effort and give more support to the farmers in terms of financial, training, monitoring and other essential services in order to boost the level of production in the study area and more effort should be made to address the issue of poor labour supply in the study so as to reduce incidence of not able to carry out most of the farm activities and to aid timeliness in carrying out farm activities.
Keywords: Consumption, Food Security, Household, Nigeria, Oyo State, Products, non-timber forest
Analytical Methods in Proximate Composition of Ten Commonly Used Seasonings in Nigeria (Published)
This paper examines the proximate composition of ten commonly used seasonings (named A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I and J) in Nigeria. The data for this study were collected from Eke-Awka market in Anambra State as a representative of Nigeria using the simple random sampling method. The techniques of Single-factor Analysis of Variance and Kruskal-Wallis Test (One-Way ANOVA on Ranks) were employed in this study; Proximate compositions across the seasonings were tested for constant variance and normality. The findings of this study showed that the proximate compositions across the seasonings lack evidence of equality in variance and also lacks normality. Furthermore, the results from the Kruskal-Wallis test, as an alternative nonparametric to Single-factor ANOVA, showed that there is statistically significant difference between the proximate compositions across the seasonings. The Dunn Kruskal-Wallis Multiple Comparison test showed an evidence of no significant difference in the mean percentage composition of the following pairs of the proximate compositions: Ash and Fat, Carbohydrate and Fat, Ash and Moisture, Carbohydrate and Moisture, and Moisture and Protein. Thus, this study shows that there is significant difference in the proximate compositions of seasonings in Nigeria.
Keywords: Dunn’s Test, Kruskal-Wallis, Nigeria, Proximate compositions, Seasonings, Single-Factor ANOVA
THOUGHTS ON FOOD-PRODUCING PLANT BIODIVERSITY OF NIGERIA (Review Completed - Accepted)
The paper is based on the United Nations theme for World Environment Day for year 2013, which is “Think. Eat. Save.” This paper focuses on the first issue of the theme: “Think.” The thoughts in the paper are devoted to how Nigeria can effectively manage the food-production potentials of the country’s plant biodiversity to assure sustainable feeding of the people and contribute to sustainable development of the country. The paper discusses the diversity of food-producing plants of Nigeria, the challenges facing them and the strategies that could be adopted to curb these challenges and ameliorate them. The diverse food-producing plants highlighted in the paper, include root crops, stem tubers, cereals and legumes. Others include vegetables, condiments, edible oils and spices. Mention is also made of fruit drinks, beverages and sugar. There are also comments on wines and beer got from plant products, and the edible fruits and seeds. The paper also considers the foods of livestock and farm animals, in forms such as live foods, browse plants, animal feedstuffs and food left-overs. The paper highlights the challenges facing food-producing plants of Nigeria to include over-exploitation, natural enemies, anthropogenic influences, natural disasters and climate change. Other man-made challenges facing food-producing plants of Nigeria, include the dwindling food-producing population, the ever-increasing populations of human and animal food consumers, that of food insecurity and that of in-appropriate policies on agricultural development in the country. Suggested strategies to curb the challenges facing the food-producing plants and ameliorate the challenges include encouraging large scale agriculture in the country, adopting the best practices in agriculture noticeable in all other countries across the globe and encouraging the youths to take to agriculture. Others include intensification of researches in crop producing, diseases and pest control, among others
Keywords: Challenges, Food-producing plants, Man-made Problems, Nigeria, Plant biodiversity, Strategies.